


Eternal Contemplations

by fadingtales



Category: Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/F, F/M, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-16
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:04:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 93,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadingtales/pseuds/fadingtales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Timing means nothing and everything when you have an eternity to live. Damon Salvatore/Blair Waldorf, TVD/GG crossover fic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Damon loved Katherine. That was a universal truth. But as much as he had loved her, he had hated her for damning him into living an eternity when she went off and got herself killed. Despite the façade of a glamorous eternal stud (his own words), Damon Salvatore hated his immortality. He often wakes up everyday wondering why he doesn't just take off his blasted ring, walk into the sunlight and end it all. Then he remembers. Vengeance. He had promised his brother an eternity of misery, so now he was going to keep that promise. It's the thought that while he may live forever in utter loneliness and agony, he's not going to be doing it alone. It's this thought that keeps him from welcoming the warm embrace of the sun.

Blair loved Nate. That was a universal truth. Unfortunately for her, the object of her affections never really reciprocated the feelings. He was always chasing the sunshine of a girl by the name of Serena Van der Woodsen. As it turns out, that sunshine of a girl was also Blair's best friend. Life's just full of disappointments. She's the girl who has everything and nothing. She doesn't know how it is that she can wake up everyday and pull on a smile that coordinates with the latest Eleanor Waldorf original her mother laid out for her to wear, but she does it to perfection and no one is ever the wiser. She hopes that if she can keep up the act, one day she'll trick herself into believing it. Better yet she can trick others into believing it. One day she'll be the one that preferred over sunshiny blondes with a bubbly personality.

xxx

The party is a bore and truth be told, so is her boyfriend. He's spent most of the night out on the balcony smoking various herbs with Chuck. Nate has never been the same after Serena left. None of them are.

She idly wonders if anyone has ever died of loneliness before, but then berates herself for being so melodramatic. She's a Waldorf for god's sake. Self-pity doesn't wear well with her outfit. For a moment she lets her mask slip and just be. Just when she's starting to get a bit of peace of mind, a girl with a noxiously blue drink spills the contents of her glass down the front of her dress.

One out of two things could happen at this moment. One, Blair could let this lapse of grace go and accept the poor girl's terrified, stammering streams of apologies, or two, she can tear the little wench a new one. While she doesn't necessarily like donning the whole "oh, woe is me" look, if anything Blair Waldorf loves putting on a good show of being a world class bitch.

xxx

New York had always held a certain allure for Damon. He loved the smell and sounds of the city that never sleeps. Insomniacs and nocturnal creatures fill the city, nobodies that will not be missed by anybody. They make for easy pickings.

He's looking for his next meal when he spots her. Amongst the pulsing crowd, she oddly stood out in her silent contemplations. A small frown perched itself delicately on her brows. She's a pretty little thing in her silky white dress, hair in mahogany waves. He forms a little story in his mind of what type of girl she is. Sweet, lovable, innocent… he wants to do naughty things to her that will make her blush.

Her moment of peace is interrupted when a drunken nobody manages to drop a glass full of some toxic blue concoction down the front of her pretty dress. Damon tsks at the disruption of such a pretty picture.

He watches as the stuttering blonde stumbles through a hysterical apology. He waits for his girl in white to accept with a syrupy smile and silence the bumbling blonde idiot. His mental image of a virginal princess who has various cuddly woodland creatures braid her hair in the morning is instantly crushed. He watches as his girl in white smiles a deceptively angelic smile and then proceeds to tear the other girl to shreds with her verbal assaults. With a mouth like that those woodland creatures would die of shock.

Damon scraps the delicate subservient girl in white fantasy and replaces it with this new image of a sassy sharp-tongued dominatrix. He likes this version better.

xxx

Blair successfully reduces the clumsy blonde to tears. She rolls her eyes at the girl's dramatics. Where does this girl get off for crying when it was her who got her Eleanor Waldorf original silk white dress ruined by some frilly blue sorry excuse for a drink? Doesn't the girl know that anyone with class would be drinking a gin martini anyways? With a final eye roll, Blair pushes her way to the ladies' room, her entourage of Kati and Iz, who finally extracted themselves from the dance floor, in tow

She emerges in a new dress, borrowed from Kati and last season, but of passable taste. By now, the evening is all but ruined and she makes her way towards the bar to get that long deserved gin martini that might help soften the blow of being abandoned by her best friend and boyfriend as well as getting one of her mother's precious dresses ruined. She sits herself down at one end of the bar, hoping to find some quality alone time only to have the moment ruined when a stranger sidles up in the seat next to her.

"Hi."

Blair ignores the greeting and merely sips her drink, not sparing the newcomer a passing glance.

Damon chuckles at her snub. The night had been full of pleasant surprises and he's always one who loved the thrill of a chase.

"What? Not a fan of social conventions like greeting? Cat got your tongue? You seemed to have quite a bit to say to that blonde over there earlier."

His supposedly charming remarks falls on deaf ears as the object of his current fascination remains adamant in her efforts to ignore him.

Blair polishes off her drink and before she can order another, the stranger besides her whom she has been consciously ignoring manages to beat her to the punch.

"Another gin martini for the lovely lady."

Annoyed by this incessant bid for her attention, Blair decides some guys just can't take the hint. She allows herself to direct her gaze towards her companion for the first time, her mouth already open to completely and utterly reject the irritating fellow once and for all. She's slightly taken aback by the handsome specimen with a cocky smirk sitting beside her.

"That's your drink, right?"

She gives him a once over. He smiles and doesn't doubt that she likes what she sees. She has yet to say a word to him, but her mouth is slowly curling into a smile and he knows he's got her.

"Wrong. I'm done for the evening."

This girl is full of surprises, her every smile and polite gesture a double entendre. At least he's gotten a word out of her.

"Ah… the lady speaks. And here I thought that muteness was going to become a permanent problem."

"The only problem here," she says setting the newly replenished glass in front of him "is you."

She gets up from the bar and starts walking out the door. Naturally he follows her. They make it outside and she's all but ready to get in the nearest taxi cab and disappear so he decides to pull some tricks up his sleeve.

"'She walks in beauty, like the night…'" he calls out from behind her in a sing-song voice.

She stops in her tracks and turns around to face him.

"You're quoting Byron… really? Does that sort of thing usually work on girls?" she asks with the snootiest voice she can muster and a quirked eyebrow.

"It made you stop and talk to me didn't it?"

He's smiling like the cat that ate the canary and she can't help, but smile back.

"How about a name for my efforts? Reciting Byron can be really embarrassing after all."

Drinking with Byron who couldn't hold his liquor in public was embarrassing as well, but at least Damon got a few good tricks from the old sucker.

"You tell me yours first and I'll think about telling you mine," she replies haughtily.

He chuckles, but obliges the lady. "It's Damon. Damon Salvatore."

"Damon," she repeats. He realizes he likes the way she says his name. He'd like it better if she was purring it into his ear… his lips trailing kisses down that white neck, coming to rest on that tender part of her throat where he can feel her pulse beat the loudest… He's getting way ahead of himself and quickly turns his attention back to the present.

"And you would be…"

She looks him in the eye and he could almost see the gears in her head turning, forming some sort of assessment of him.

"It's Blair Waldorf."

He guesses he passed whatever test she gave him.

"Aren't you afraid of the dark, Blair Waldorf?"

"No. I'm not. I find it's those who can walk in the sunlight to be much more terrifying."

"Smart girl," he says, toying with the ring on his finger.

"Yes, I know," she replies flippantly, bitchy hair-toss included.

"Well… you might not be afraid of the dark… but I might be. Walk me home?" he says with the most disarming smile he can muster.

She gives him an amused look that tells him he's not going to win her over with the cute act. He's ready to switch to plan B (AKA vampiric persuasion), but before he gets a chance to try she surprises him (for the hundredth time) and asks where he's staying. He answers "the Ritz Carlton on West Street" and before he can get another word out she starts walking off in that direction.

She pauses and looks back at him when he notices that he's not following her.

"Well? Are you coming or not?"

He doesn't need asking twice.

xxx

The hotel is only a block away and for an immortal the short span of time it takes to walk from the party to his most un-humble of lodgings is a mere micro-second.

"Care to join me up in my suite?" he asks cockily when they reach the lobby. "Get that martini you missed out on."

It's prime time for a meal and as much as Damon's enjoying his companion's coy play, he's ready to fast forward this little chase to the good part. He catches her eyes with his and lays on the compulsions thick.

She smiles and he for the second time that night he thinks he's got her where he wants her.

"I'll pass," she answers. "It's a school night after all. And I'm not that kind of girl."

With one last sly smile that puts the Mona Lisa to shame, she leaves his side, flags down a taxi and is gone.

Damon is left standing there in front of his fancy hotel, pondering if he's more starved than he thought since his powers of compulsion seemed to have utterly failed. It's an alarming thought and so he marches to the front desk, fixes his icy blue eyes on a pretty redheaded receptionist. The girl quickly falls under his spell and while he takes her up to his room, he ponders what exactly went wrong the first time around. The only reasons for his powers to fail is either she's a witch or in possession of some vervain. Since the anti-vampire herb is not native to Manhattan, city of concrete, only the other option is possible. After licking his lips clean, he makes the calculated decision to look into this mysterious "Blair Waldorf" and her immunity to his vampire mind tricks. Besides…he's in the mood for spunky brunettes.

xxx

It all comes down to this. Damon Salvatore was born in the age of carriages and horses and Blair Waldorf was born in the age of limousines and engines. Decades and years spanned the difference of time between their births. He should have been dust by the time she took her first breath. They weren't meant to ever meet. That's the funny thing about timing. It makes all the difference in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I decided to expand the story and make it something new and unrelated to Blood Roses although the premise remains the same. Time frame for GG is pre-pilot. For TVD, the time frame is set after 1x09 (History Repeating). Everything becomes AU from there on out. I hope you guys enjoy! Please review/comment, I appreciate any and all feedback!

She comes out of school with Kati and Iz trailing behind and chattering about something trivial. She looks for Nate, but the blonde haired boy is nowhere in sight. Instead her eyes are drawn to a darker haired former stranger in a leather jacket. He smiles and waves, the perfect picture of a bad boy leaning against a bad boy car. He has the look of someone who obviously knows how handsome he is and isn't afraid to flaunt it. She takes him in and appreciates the view. Whatever bubbly feelings she has, being the ice queen that she is, she reins it all in. With her emotions under control, Blair allows her face to form a mask of nonchalance. Decision made up, she dismisses Kati and Iz and makes her way across the street to where he is.

He pushes himself off of the car, ready to greet her.

"Hi."

She pauses for a millisecond to give him a smile and then walks right past him and into the bakery shop behind him.

After the initial shock of being snubbed twice in twenty-four hours by this girl, he begins to admire her. Most girls would be clamoring for his attention by now. If the devilish tall, dark and handsome bit doesn't work, his vampire charisma sure would. But none of it was working. She's completely unimpressed and unaffected and it's all the more reason he's starting to like her more and more.

Eventually Blair comes out of the shop, her hands laden with boxes of assorted mini cakes and pastries. He's waiting for her and this time he's not going to get passed by.

"Hi," he repeats, as if she didn't just totally brush him off the first time.

Two times is the charm, really.

"Still here?"

"You were worth the wait."

"I thought you'd come up with a cleverer greeting since the last time we met."

"Well… it worked out so well the last time…"

"Last time I ignored you."

"At first, but eventually my seductive 'hi' running through your head brought you around."

"Oh, did it now?"

"How else can it explain you standing here next to me?"

"A momentary lapse in judgment perhaps?"

He laughs. She has a witty retort for everything and always has to have the last word.

"You have quite the razor tongue."

"All the better to cut you with. I don't like dull things."

"Neither do I…" he says seductively, trying on once again if his powers work. "Can I help you with your bags?"

She's a little taken aback by his chivalry that is all but dead in the high volume, high speed New York City.

"You're not from around here are you?"

"No." It's the understatement of the year. "I'm only visiting, but I think I might have found a reason for staying around. Your bags?" he extends a helping hand accompanied with a look laced with persuasive powers.

"I can handle myself. I better get going. People are waiting on these pastries."

It doesn't work. She's just… immune somehow. The only reason he can conjure up (no pun intended) is that she's a witch. And if so, then the game plan is about to change. She would be exactly what he's been looking for, the crucial missing ingredient to his plan to open Katherine's tomb. The fact that she's easy on the eyes doesn't hurt matters.

"Are you a witch?" he asks bluntly, his voice taking on a sinister tone.

She matches his grave expression.

"Close… but I think the term people often use is a slight variance," she answers seriously.

His head runs through all the possible variety of magical creatures and what-not that she could possibly be classified under. A hundred and seventy-five years. That's how long he's lived and he can't think of anything she could possibly be other than a witch.

"And what term would that be?" he asks, ready to strike at any moment's notice if she proves to be difficult. He needs her alive and he'd prefer it if she would cooperate willingly, but if worse comes to worse… he's not afraid to bang some fangs.

"A bitch," she quips, a smug smile on her face.

He smiles in spite of himself. He was supposed to be intimidating her, not laughing at her jokes. It's a difficult feat when she continues to be so amusing.

"You're kind of weird, do you know that?"

It's an insult, but she still has that smile on her face. He decides to take things slow and ease up with the hostilities, enjoy himself a bit.

"So you're a bitch and I'm a weirdo. We'd make some kind of awesome couple wouldn't we?"

"Awesome is not the word I'd use. And now that we're done with the labeling, I really do have to get going."

"Where to?"

He still doesn't know what she is and he's not letting her go until he does because witch she might not be, she still has some strong compulsion powers of her own. He doesn't want to let her get away.

"Home. My mother's having a dinner party tonight for some buyers and a few guests. She asked me to pick up some extra desserts since the catering staff is woefully inadequate."

"Sounds like fun," he says sarcastically. "Let me give you a lift."

"I have a boyfriend."

He shouldn't be surprised. A girl like her, it would be more absurd that no one tried to stake a claim yet. Not that she would ever let anyone stake a claim on her. She's much more likely to put a stake through a poor bloke's heart than have any man possess her. Maybe that's why he likes her so much. He has a thing for the femme fatale types. Exhibit A: Katherine Pierce.

"I'm giving you a ride, not asking you to jettison off with me to Jamaica where we'll get married by some tribal shaman. Although I hear Jamaica is quite nice this time of the year."

She considers it for a moment and he tries his compulsion again.

"Let me give you a ride. Your boyfriend won't mind."

After a pause she answers him with a dramatically exasperated sigh.

"Fine. These are new shoes and I wouldn't want to ruin them."

He smiles a smile that can only be achieve when one's plan falls into place and opens the door for her. Whether or not his powers worked is still up in the air, but he'll take what he can get.

xxx

They arrive in front of the immodest Waldorf household and he stumbles before the threshold. She's standing right behind the doorway, only ten inches away, but effectively completely out of his reach. It's strangely unnerving how uneasy he feels to be separated from her, even if it's such a small distance.

She turns around to face him and he does his best to look the everlasting handsome stud that he is.

"Thanks for the ride."

"It was my sincerest pleasure." He adds a mockingly flourishing bow to accompany the statement. She rolls her eyes at his antics.

"Your tongue is quite glib. Don't you get tired of being so…"

"Incredibly handsome and charming?" he finishes.

"I was going to say cheesy and cliché."

"You say that, but I know inside you're just waiting for me to sweep you off your feet like Prince Charming."

The words seem to have struck a chord with her that he hadn't expected and her face grows somber.

"I don't believe in fairytales," she states obstinately, almost as if trying to convince herself.

"You're lying. Sure you do." All girls do, surely.

"Fairytales aren't real. There's no Prince Charming or magic in this world."

"There might not be any Prince Charming, but that doesn't mean there's no magic."

"What? Like pixie dust and fairy godmothers?" she mocks.

He laughs, "Yeah. Like that… or like curses… voodoo… vampires and goblins."

"Goblins? Seriously?" She laughs.

"Well, maybe not goblins."

He's glad her smile is back were it belongs. The strange urge to make her smile lies unfamiliarly at the pit of his stomach.

"You know this party my mother's having is sort of boring…but I do have a few friends over. Do you want to come in for a little bit?"

"Is that an invitation?" he asks. It's what he's been waiting for.

"Yeah. I guess it is."

"It'll be my pleasure," he says with a deviant smile and takes a step across the threshold.


	3. Chapter 3

"Who's that with Blair?"

Nate turns around to face the direction Chuck's nodding to and sees the dark haired couple moving towards them. A feeling of uneasiness and the niggling of something off struggles in his pot hazed brain. He should be worried about his girlfriend hanging out with dark, handsome strangers, but he doesn't.

"Blair!"

She turns to greet Nate with a chaste kiss on the cheeks. It's odd how distant she feels towards him now. Just a month ago he was the center of her world, but ever since Serena left, they've just grew… tired of one another. She tries so hard to be the perfect girlfriend, so hard to smile and brighten up when he walks into the room. That's how love is supposed to feel like right? At least she knows she's looking the part.

"Who's your friend?" Chuck asks a little too sternly for comfort.

"Just somebody I picked up when I was out getting some pastries."

"You make me sound like a stray."

"Yes, but don't worry. I'll make sure you get all your shots."

Blair's smiling a smile that Nate has never seen before. The dark haired pair is getting along a little too well and again, he feels like he should be jealous, angry, something. Chuck's showing more signs of anxiety than he was. All acts of affection are performed with a level of numbness and routine, like a well rehearsed dance choreography. The pretenses of being the golden couple grows old fast. Nate merely finishes another glass of champagne and let the sounds of polite society conversation wash over him. He bides his time until he can make an excuse and go out for yet another smoke.

xxx

Somehow at some point in the evening, Chuck Bass and Damon Salvatore finds themselves sharing a heart to heart. At least they would if either of them possessed one.

"Damon, is it?"

"That's right. Sorry, I didn't catch your name before."

"I'm Chuck Bass."

"Seriously?"

Chuck's dislike for Blair new friend seems to grow by the second.

"So tell me… where was it that you and Blair met each other?"

"A party."

"How descriptive," Chuck drawls.

"Do you have a problem with me or something?"

"Just looking out for a friend is all. I wouldn't want Blair to get caught up with any riffraff."

"Shouldn't her boyfriend, Nate, be the one having this conversation with me? I think you're overstepping your bounds, Chuck."

"Hey! What's going on over here?" Blair asks politely, sensing a strange atmosphere between the two dark haired boys.

"Nothing at all," Damon replies with a smile, not looking away from Chuck who's not at all hiding his disdain.

"Chuck, do you mind getting me a drink?" Blair asks.

Chuck doesn't answer her and instead the two boys maintain their steady glares.

"Please," Blair emphasizes pushing Chuck in the direction of the bar.

Chuck reluctantly allows himself to be shuffled away, but not without a lingering glare to spare for Damon.

"Do you two have a thing going on the side or something that Natey boy doesn't know about?"

The bluntness and ridiculousness of Damon's question stuns her into silence.

"What? You mean with Chuck? Don't be silly. We're just friends and sometimes that's a stretch. Just imagine, Chuck and Blair, Blair and Chuck. Wait scratch that, I can't even imagine it. It's just absolutely absurd."

"I see…"

His tone doesn't give her the impression that he's at all convinced.

"I love Nate."

She says it the same way she stated that she doesn't believe in fairytales.

He lets it slide this time.

xxx

Blair goes and gets her own drink when Chuck failed to bring her one. Just goes to show if you need something done right, you might as well do it yourself. She's just got her martini from the bar when Chuck suddenly remembers what she had asked him to do in the first place.

"I already got my drink, thanks."

Her sarcasm washes over him in waves.

"What are you doing with that guy?" Chuck snide, sparing another venomous glance at the invader to their little clique. Kati and Iz were already busy fawning over the leather-clad outsider.

"He's… a friend," Blair answers noncommittally.

"You know, Nate's my friend –"

"And he's my boyfriend. I haven't forgotten," Blair snaps.

"I'm glad you haven't. We wouldn't want your pristine picture-perfect plans for the future with Archibald get ruined, now would we?" Chuck replies with sardonic sarcasm.

She gives him a glare which is quickly replaced by a shallow plastic smile as Nate makes his way towards them.

"Hey there," Nate says as he presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Hi," she replies.

"Your mom and my mom have been talking about us all night."

"Have they?"

"Yeah. You know the usual stuff. They're probably already planning the engagement party."

Nate had said it as a joke, but the reality of the situation is that Blair Waldorf and Nate Archibald were going to get married. That is if their family has any say on the matter, and their families usually have a lot to say on the matter. It used to matter to her, too. What happened to that girl?

"Engagement? Wow. I didn't know people did that nowadays," Damon injects, coming from behind her.

Idly Damon recalls all manners of outdated, old fashioned rituals of courtship and matrimony, he has witnessed all of them after all.

"These two have been together since the dawn of time, it's only about time they sealed the deal… in more ways than one," Chuck sends Nate a smarmy nudge-nudge-wink-wink smirk while the blonde blushes prettily. Blair bites her lip in annoyance.

Meanwhile Damon tucks away the little bits of information about the golden couple and saves it for later use. A smile on his face emerges unconsciously with the knowledge that little Blair Waldorf has yet to be deflowered. Thinking about it, he realizes that it's only natural since her boyfriend is a totally impotent dud.

xxx

Despite the boring uptight social climbers that surround him, Damon has a good time. Much of the credit for this feat belongs to the brunette with a feisty attitude. Because of his good mood, he decides not to kill anyone tonight for dinner. Not even that Chuck Bass who continues to give him dirty looks or Nate who continues to monopolize Blair's time being boring and dull. He never thought she was one to go for pretty and dim. Of course, he's been constantly surprised by her every action so how would he know what's her taste in guys?

After almost all the guests have left, he finds her outside on the balcony alone examining how the light catches her wine glass. She makes a pretty picture in the moonlight, what with her glossy curls, ruby lips and melancholy gaze. Almost like one of those doomed heroines in some sort of epic Greek tragedy. He thinks 'almost' because while he's old, his time on earth doesn't date far enough back to know for sure how tragic Grecian heroines actually look like. Nevertheless, this is how he'd imagine they would be.

"Is the glass so interesting?"

She's startled by his voice and the glass drops from her hand, shattering on the floor.

"How clumsy of me."

She bends over to pick up the shards and in the process cuts her finger on the glass. Immediately the smell of blood fills Damon's nostrils and his eyes begin to dark the way they do when he's lusting for blood.

xxx

He regrets skipping lunch because now all he wants to do is sink his teeth into some nice soft porcelain skin. But he doesn't. Even though he really really wants to. She's not helping matters any what with the erotic way she's sucking on her finger wound. You'd think she was trying to seduce him if you didn't know she already had a boyfriend. Not that having a boyfriend ever stopped anyone before, but he could tell Blair wasn't the type to take a detour on the road less traveled by and throw a wrench into her picture perfect plans.

"Can you get me a band-aid? I think the cut is a bit deeper than I thought."

It's a good excuse as any and he quickly makes his way out the door to let himself calm down without the scent of her blood wafting seductively in the air. It takes him a while to get that blasted band-aid and when he goes back out to the balcony to find her she's no longer alone. Nate's with her and they seem to be in the middle of a conversation. He could be a gentleman and turn around and leave them to their business… or he could stay quiet and listen in on the happy couple. Damon was always a bit of creeper anyhow.

"You've been weird lately…"

"Have I?" Nate replies.

"Is something going on? I mean… after Serena left…"

"It's just weird, you know," he answers, a little too quickly. "Not having her around. It's… weird."

Damon rolls his eyes in the darkness at the lameness of Nate's reply.

"Yeah. It's just not the same without her. I just feel like… I'm losing you too."

"What are you talking about? I'm right here."

She looks as if she's going to say more on the matter, but she doesn't.

"I love you, Archibald."

He smiles the famous Nate Archibald smile and says "I love you, too" as if on cue. The whole exchange seemed almost rehearsed.

Nate gives her yet another chaste kiss on the forehead for the umpteenth time Damon shakes his head silently at all the wasted opportunities. The prick doesn't know what he's got. Sensing that he wasn't going to get much more information out of a conversation when Nate as one of the participants, Damon clears his throat loudly to interrupt the couple.

"Hey. I got you that band-aid." He waves the aforementioned bandage for emphasis.

"Took you long enough."

"Your staff couldn't find the first aid kit."

"It's so hard to find good help these days," Blair laments.

"Are you hurt somewhere?" Nate asks belatedly.

Damon wonders to himself exactly how dense is this Nate character.

"Just a cut. It's no big deal. It's already stopped bleeding anyhow."

"Here. Let me do it," Nate states, his hand extending out towards Damon, palm open.

Damon hands over the bandage and Nate proceeds to carefully cover Blair's wound. It's a small gesture, but throughout the little exchange Blair has on the most sweet, girlish, out-of-character smile Damon has ever seen to grace her face. He doesn't like it one bit.

"There. All better," Nate says with an equally syrupy smile.

"Thanks," Blair replies.

"Well, I gotta get going. I'm supposed to go running with my dad tomorrow at five in the morning."

"Five in the morning? What an ungodly hour," Damon proclaims.

Nate laughs. "Yeah. I guess I'm just use to waking up early. For like sports and stuff."

Damon smiles a little smile in his head because now that he knows Nate is a jock, everything makes sense. Sure, sure. That's stereotyping, but at this point Damon can't come up with any other explanation for the blonde bobble-head other than regular trauma to the noggin from contact sports.

"It was nice to meet you, Damon," Nate states before making his departure.

Damon's not sure he can say the feeling is mutual, but he waves and smiles like the best of them.

"He seems nice," he comments after Nate has turned the corner.

The way Damon says it sounds sarcastic to her ears.

"I know you were standing over there listening to us. Stalker much?"

And here he thought he was being stealthy. Nothing seems to get past her.

"And Nate is nice."

"I'm sure he is," Damon says with what looks to be his best pseudo sincere smile.

She still doesn't believe him.

"It's just… been a bit weird because of some family stuff that's been going on. Our parents are putting some pressure on him and me… And recently one of our best friends just got up and left without saying good-bye…"

The excuses sound lame even to her own ears and she doesn't know why she's making excuses to him.

"Uh huh."

"I just feel like he's always caught up with something lately and canceling plans. He's just been really busy, that's all."

The words just keep spilling out of her to him without her meaning to.

"Forget it. It's none of your business anyway. You don't know what it is like to love someone and yet always feel like your second in their eyes."

"I get it," Damon says seriously.

She believes him this time. They're kindred in that way. She could tell by the hurt in his eyes that he really does 'get it' and it makes her feel somehow less alone, not that she wanted him to feel as miserable as she does. She wonders what girl could have possibly broken his heart. It makes her want to reach out and hug him.

"I like you," she states.

His eyebrows quirks up in amusement. She realizes how it had come out and quickly scrambles to clarify.

"I mean as a friend!"

He smiles back at her.

"You're… easy to talk to."

She really needs a good friend right now what with everything going on in her life.

"You're just not use to having any fun. I'll make sure you get more of that."

"Does this mean you're sticking around?"

"Yeah… I guess I will. At least for a little longer."

He's surprised at his own answer. This had never been in the plans to stick around for so long. He's convinced she's some sort witch because she has her spell on him. Damon is sure he's still in love with Katherine. Of course, he's also in lust with Blair, but he's a guy! Not to mention Blair's very easy on the eyes. It's only biology... or magic in her case. It must be magic. But nevertheless, he needs her to open Katherine's tomb and if he can get her to do it easily by being her "friend", then why the heck not? At least that's how he rationalizes things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: First off, I just want to make known that I am not a Nate hater, but I'm trying to write in the perspective of Damon and truth be told… Damon's a jerk. And I really can't see him taking a liking to Nate. AT ALL. Especially since it has been revealed to him that this is Blair's boyfriend. That being said, I'm hoping to amp up Damon's more violent and mischievous side. I feel like past chapters made him out much too nice and not enough psycho!killer like he's capable of. So expect more of that. Anyways, any feedback is welcomed! Thanks for reading! =)


	4. Chapter 4

She finds him waiting for her at the exact same time at the exact same place with that exact same smile on his face almost everyday after that. They share light flirtation, little smiles, and jokes and jibes that don't have the sting of hitting too close to home. She likes this feeling, this easiness of being. It doesn't last long. Already people have begun to talk, but it's minor and she attributes the gossip to the petty jealousy of inferiors. But as the number of times she finds his car parked outside of her school increases, so does the number of whispered gossip and the number of snide looks sent her way.

"It's starting to get a bit ridiculous," Chuck states as she walks to fourth period, ignoring the way people would stop talking as she passes by.

"What is?" she feigns ignorance.

"The amount of time you spend with him," Chuck says the word 'him' as if it was poison on his tongue. "People are talking."

"So? Let them say whatever they want. He's my friend and last time I checked, I'm the queen bee around here."

"That title is becoming more and more ambiguous. You forget that as much as they fear and respect a queen, they most definitely love to watch one fall. I'm just warning you. Keep this up and soon your title of queen will be replaced with two-timing whore. Nate is the Golden Boy. Don 't you forget that."

"As if anyone would let me," she scoffs.

"Look. I can't believe I'm saying this but… as much as Nate is my friend, apparently so are you. So think carefully before you throw all that away."

"How sweet… you actually care about me. Who knew? Chuck Bass is just a tiny bit human after all," Blair teases in a sing-song voice.

Chuck gives her a matching mockingly sweet smile. "What are frenemies for? Don't say I've never done anything for you. Now if you'll excuse me… I have a date with the Willoughby twins in the Janitor's closet."

Blair rolls her eyes as Chuck walks away with a smirk.

xxx

Despite the devil-may-care attitude she showed Chuck, his words make her stomach feel uneasy. When Damon shows up once again that particular afternoon, she makes her way across the street to where he is, ignoring Kati and Iz calling after her and various eyes watching her movement.

"How was school?" he inquires.

"Tedious."

"Want to go get a drink?" he opens the door for her.

She alternately eyes him and the open car door. Thoughts of her previous conversation with Chuck run through her head. She has a boyfriend. She has a life that has been painstakingly, meticulously planned and she doesn't need any distractions. Damon said so himself that he wasn't here to stay. Is she really going to risk her queendom, risk Nate and the scathing Gossip Girl blasts that are sure to come if she keeps this up?

"I can't."

She was always one who was quick to slam on the breaks when things don't go her way. Control, control, control. It was the Waldorf mantra.

His eyebrows furrow in puzzlement. It's not the answer he was expecting.

"Is something the matter?"

"What do you want from me?" she asks.

He shuts the door and leans back against the car, crossing his arms. Damon doesn't take rejection well, not that the possibility often occur. Girls don't tend to rebuff his advances. In fact they are usually more likely to invite it.

"I thought we were having a good time."

"Well, good times are about to end. I don't think I should see you anymore."

"What's this about?"

"It's about me and my reputation. I can't be seen with you anymore. People are talking."

"We're just friends. And screw what people say. Since when have you ever cared about that anyways?"

"Since forever!"

"Don't use that word so lightly."

She has no idea what forever entails.

"Is this about Nate? That guy is a total borefest. I really don't know what you see in him."

He's made it clear before about his feelings towards her boyfriend. They've had long conversations where he's playfully psychoanalyzed her and came up with the conclusion that she merely likes the idea of Nate and what he represents more than the actual person. She always protests, but she must admit that she's often thought of the same thing herself.

"I love Nate!"

"You know… just because you say it a lot, doesn't make it true."

"You're an ass."

"And you're a bitch. So let's stop wasting time making up labels and have some fun."

"Sorry. I just… can't. My mother is having a luncheon tomorrow… and I'm going to have to go help her. So, bye."

She says good-bye easily and walks away just as easily.

He feels a sort of ache somewhere in the vicinity of where his heart should be, but he attributes it to heartburn or indigestion. It must have been that blonde he had for breakfast. He doesn't need her, she can go on and walk away, there's other fish in the sea.

Except he does need her. Because she might be the witch he needs to open that tomb. At least that's what he tells himself later when he crashes her mother's luncheon. Besides…he's starting to feel a craving for some bluebloods.

xxx

It would have been awkward if he hadn't charmed Eleanor and the remainder of the guests with his glamour. Unfortunately, Blair remains completely immune despite his many attempts. Her constant glares follow him all afternoon.

"Damon! Darling! You must try some of these marvelous Spanish tortes."

"Why thank you, Mrs. Waldorf. I do admit I have quite a sweet tooth."

Inwardly Damon rolls his eyes at the elder woman's idiocy. The desert she so enthusiastically proclaimed to be Spanish torte is instead a Danish pastry. Apparently money can't buy you good common sense or intelligence. Thank god Blair hasn't inherited her overly stupid nature.

"Have I told you by the way that you have on the most marvelous dress?"

Blair recognizes fake social pleasantries when she hears it. God knows she's an expert. She wishes there was a table that would obscure her mother's view for she desperately wants to kick the honey tongued leather-clad flirt in the shins.

"What? This? Just an old design of mine. Blair's dress is a better example of my current pieces. Although… Blair, darling? I think you had one too many of those tortes… Pardon her enthusiastic appetite. The dress will look better on the runway when it's worn by real models."

Blair's smile falters for a second as she puts down the offending pastry, but the smile is back up again in all its icy glory.

"Really? I can't imagine anyone looking more stunning," Damon replies, a tinge of menace taints the smile he gives Eleanor.

Blair is slightly pleased by him defending her honor, so to speak, but that doesn't make her forget the fact that he crashed her party. She refuses to be amused when he turns and winks at her.

"Oh, Damon. You're just so sweet. Please tell me you will come see the show?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Blair darts a quick glare in his direction. Damon shoots her a sugary smile that doesn't match the mischief in his eyes to which she answers with a forced smile. Mommy dearest is still in company after all and that table she needs is still out of reach. Images of bloody shins fill her thoughts. She's immune to his honeyed tongue by now and if he thinks he can sweet talk his way out of this then she's overestimated his intelligence.

"You know… I'm thinking about branching out and trying menswear… perhaps you'd considering modeling?" Eleanor eyes him from head to toe and he's sure she's enjoying what she sees.

"I would be delighted!" he replies dramatically.

At the corner of his eyes he sees Blair shooting him yet another dirty look. He knows he's pushing his luck, but the curtains for this charade isn't closing any time soon. He's having way too much fun.

After her mother leaves, she confronts him.

"What's you game, Salvatore?"

"Just having a little fun. You know, you use to have it. Did Nate suck away all your humor? Where is blondie anyhow?"

"H-he's not here. He was busy today. Not everyone has so much free time on their hands like you do."

She tries turn and walk away, but he's quick to anticipate her maneuver.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's really busy," Damon completes his sentence by gesturing as if he was smoking. "Probably too stoned to do much of anything."

"For your information, Nate's busy studying for the SATs! And you!" she emphasizes the 'you' with a jab to his chest. "weren't even invited!"

"Why is it that it feels like you're trying to get rid of me?"

"Because I am!"

"And here I thought we were friends."

He says it with the usual dramatic sarcasm, but she could tell he's angry underneath all those smiles and it makes her heart ache a little.

"Fine, stay as long as you want… I have to go see about the caterers."

She leaves and Damon's anger gets projected onto a nearby pretty waitress. He doesn't bother with being charming or nice. He mere grabs her by the arm, uses his usual Jedi mind tricks and soon he has her in one of the empty guest rooms where he quickly makes lunch out of her.

And that's how Blair walks in on him.

xxx

He's caught in an awkward situation. Shirt off and blood dripping down his mouth and onto his bare chest with the limp blonde waiting staff lying crumpled on the ground. He's been especially sloppy and violent and the carnage is fit for a horror movie. He's surprised she hasn't screamed yet. He's surprised he hasn't already snapped her neck.

"Oh my god."

"The name's Damon, but I guess that'll work too."

She somehow manages to give him a sneer despite her shock.

"Do you like freaking sparkle too?" she asks incredulously, hands on her hips.

"Geez! What's up with everyone and Twilight? Doesn't anyone read Anne Rice or Dracula anymore?"

"You've killed one of my mother's staff."

"Not yet. She's still breathing…" he pokes a dainty toe at the prostate body of the blonde waitress. "I think…"

"We're already short on staff as it is and you go around… eating them for lunch?"

"That's what you're worried about? I'm a vampire and all you care about is some luncheon?"

"Well maybe you should just kill me too and save my mother the trouble!" she exclaims throwing her hands into the air and promptly turns on her heel to head out the door.

He quickly speeds on over to block her path.

"And where do you think you're going, princess?"

He makes for a fearful sight, blood smeared across his mouth, fangs extended and eyes darkened with remnant blood lust. Blair swallows a nervous gulp. The reality of the situation is finally sinking in and he can hear her rapid heart rate. They spend one long minute just staring at each other, neither making a move. He wonders if she's had a silent stroke and is now paralyzed. The shock of finding out that vampires walk amongst us is quite big; others would have gone hysterical or fainted by now.

"Blair?"

"You're… a vampire."

"Yes. Is that going to be a problem?"

He's challenging her, getting on the defensive because there's only two ways this whole shindig can go. Kill or not kill. Past outcomes have often leaned to the former.

"Not unless you really did kill that waitress over there."

Her sarcasm masks her nervousness. He feels slightly disappointed that she now knows his dirty little secret. That she finally realized what a monster he is. He doesn't know why he should care what she thinks of him, but he does.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asks calmly.

He's silent for a while before answering. He just looks at her with this strange look in his eyes and to both his and her astonishment answers "No."

"And why not?" she sounds almost bothered that he wasn't.

He should've said yes. He should've just killed her and be done with it. Witch or no witch. She's too much of a wild card to be kept around.

But he needs her. For Katherine. Really. It's all for Katherine.

"Because I don't know what you are."

"I'm a girl. A human Or lunch, as that other girl lying over there seems to have proven."

"It's not so simple."

"Don't tell me that I'm your soul mate and we're destined to be together."

"I think you're some kind of witch."

Her eyebrow shoots up quizzically.

"A witch," she repeats as if he was mentally impaired and talking nonsense.

"You don't do what I tell you to."

"Hello? It's the 21st century. Women don't do what guys tell them to do anymore," she replies snootily.

"Not even when I use my vampiric compulsions."

"Maybe your mojo is on the fritz, ever think of that?"

"Seemed to work well on your mother… and her guests."

"You… compelled my mother?"

He smiles an impish smile. "I could have told her to quit designing women's clothing and start tailoring dog costumes and she would've done it in a heartbeat."

"You stay away from my mother!"

The fearful look in her eyes makes him angry. He didn't want her to be like all the others. He didn't want to be the monster. At least not in her eyes.

"Dog costumes are the tackiest, vilest form of evil to have ever graced the world! And if you think I'm going to put up with being the daughter of someone who actually creates th-those THINGS-"

She doesn't get to finish her tirade because he's keeled over with laughter.

"Seriously!" She stamps her foot in protest to his incessant snickering.

He struggles to smother the remaining laughs bubbling in his chest as she continues to glare at him with hands on her hips. Like he says before, she's a wild card.

"You… are definitely something else. If it's not a witch… I have no idea what."

She rolls her eyes.

"Aside from that being absolutely absurd… why would it matter whether or not I was a witch?"

Her curiosity overcomes her fear.

His previous mirth is replaced by solemnity. She's seen that melancholic look in his eyes before.

"Because I need one to help with me something."

"You're the one on top of the food-chain so what could I possibly do to help you? That is unless you're looking for a pretty Eleanor Waldorf Original dress to match your eyes."

She hopes that witty banter could chase his sorrowful look away. She likes him better when he's being cocky and sarcastic.

"While I'd love to see you attempt to scale the impossible challenge of finding a color that would match my one-of-a-kind, stunning baby blues… what I have in mind is slightly different."

"As in?"

"How do you feel about the macabre?"

"Aside from walking in on a vampire feasting on one of my mother's help? I haven't had much experience."

"There's a tomb."

"Sounds morbid already."

"It's been spelled and I need to open it."

"And why would you want to do that?" she asks with slight sarcasm in her voice.

"Because Katherine is trapped in there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: New update! I don't know if Damon came off as menacing as I wanted him to… Should I up the evil factor? I'm struggling with the plot a bit because soon I'm going to have to integrate some Mystic Falls residents into the mix next chapter. Thanks for reading! Comments/reviews are appreciated! =)


	5. Chapter 5

The ever enigmatic Katherine. He's mentioned her. Once. Slip of a tongue perhaps or just a lack of judgment on his part. They were drinking an awful lot that day, but now she wonders if vampires can actually get drunk. She merely asked him if he's ever been in love. He had admitted he has. Once upon a time.

"It doesn't matter anymore, she's gone," he states taking a big swallow of scotch.

She asked him her name and he'd simply said Katherine. The way he said her name seemed like the three spoken syllables left scorched marks on his tongue. He never spoke of her again and so she concludes that obviously the relationship had not ended well. Her heart went out to him, despite their short time with each other he had quickly become a member of the short list of people Blair Waldorf cared about. He deserved to be happy.

xxx

He didn't mean to tell her about Katherine. He didn't know how they got to this place where the pseudo friendship turned into a real one. They were drinking a lot and he could tell she was getting a little more than tipsy, which could account for the number of indiscretions she confessed to him. He, on the other hand, was completely sober. The undead doesn't need to process alcohol, although he certainly enjoys the taste of it. Kind of like breathing. Technically he doesn't have to, but old habits die hard and he likes the semblance of being human. Maybe that's why he said it. She made him feel more human than he has for a while. He just… wanted to share something true about himself to her because yes, she really is his friend. Perhaps his only one.

xxx

"Katherine," she repeats.

"Yes."

"I always assumed that she was dead…"

"Well… technically she is. But then again so am I. We're both vampires."

She knows that he's not like other people, but hearing it said out loud was another thing. "He's dead. He's not a real person. He's a vampire. That kills human beings." The truth hits her a little bit harder now that the shock has worn off. The day has proven to be full of revelations. She finds her head spinning with the information. She stumbles a little and he quickly catches her arm.

"Blair? Are you okay?"

He almost sounds concerned for a blood thirsty monster straight out of a horror movie.

"I just found out that vampires exist and is currently being accused of being a witch," she pauses to give him a fiery glance. "How do you think I am?"

She wrenches her arm out of his grasp and starts pacing back and forth carefully avoiding the prone body of Damon's lunch still sprawled on the ground.

He knew that the clever exchange snark and barbs was going to end eventually, that her coping mechanism will ultimately fail and she'll realize what a predicament she's in. He just needs to make sure that now that the Novocain has worn off he can convince her to do what he needs her to do.

"I need a witch to open that tomb."

"So you can be reunited with you beloved. Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

"Are you going to help me?"

She continues to pace for awhile, her hand moving to her lips to bite her nails the way she usually does when she's stressed. It's a habit she's trying to kick and the moment her fingertips reach her lips she immediately remembers and thrusts them to her side. She looks almost funny marching the way she is with her arms at her side ramrod straight. He'd laugh if he thought she would find humor in the situation. She's always been a bit obsessive about maintaining the "proper mannerisms of a lady", but it's the discipline in her that he admires. She crosses her arms and moves towards a chair to sit down.

Blair's mind works frantically to sort out all the things she just learned and mulls over the pros and cons of opening a tomb and freeing an undead vampire.

She surprises herself with the next following words.

"Fine. I'm going to help you."

His shocked look causes her to roll her eyes.

"Honesty, as if you left me any choice in the matter. It's either that or you rip my throat out or something along those violent, murderous lines."

He had hoped that it wouldn't come to any "throat ripping" as she so poetically put it, but she's right. Worse comes to worst, she knows his secret. She's either with him or against him. Damon's simple that way.

"But don't you forget this, Damon Salvatore. You owe me one."

He won't forget it.

xxx

She makes up an excuse about going to go look at some colleges in Mystic Falls, wherever that is. Does anyone seriously believe that Blair Waldorf would waste timing looking at a school other than Yale? Or even anything that was not Ivy League? If Serena was still here she would have called her out on it, but she isn't and Nate doesn't have the brains to realize anything is up. The only person that could have caught on was Chuck, but he's hosting yet another Lost Weekend and is currently incognito. Blair's a little more than disappointed about her group of peers. But alas, Serena's not there and her absentee father doesn't care, neither does her mother. So, she hands in the note signed by her maid, Dorota, and the school doesn't bat an eye.

As she finishes filling out the necessary paperwork for her leave of absence she notices a pair of gossiping sophomores in the corner giving her snide looks. She hears one of them whisper, "Looks like it's time to play while the bitch is away" in a sing-song voice. "I'd like a shot at the tiara with prince Charming by my side. Does she honestly think she's fooling anyone? 'Virgin Queen' my ass." Blair intentionally bumps the girl on the shoulder making her spill her coffee over her blouse as she exits the building.

He's outside waiting for her when she comes out of the school administration office.

"Everything squared away?" he asks.

"Let's just get this whole road trip thing over with."

Damon smiles in reply as he twirls his car keys in his hand.

"I can't believe you don't want to fly there instead."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Um, how about the air conditioning, the first class leather seats, the martinis and other luxurious amenities?"

"Pfft. My car has leather seats."

"Yeah… and I bet you personally killed the cows they're made of. Your car is ancient."

"It's retro."

"It's old. Like you are."

"Ouch. Someone got off on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Besides, I think of myself like a good wine… I get better with age."

"Come on," she sighs as she drags him over to the much discussed car.

xxx

It's an hour into the trip and to her surprise she's kind of enjoying herself, but she doesn't let him know that. It's the first time she's done something like this and it is one part scary, and two parts exhilarating.

Despite her bitchy behavior, Damon knows she's trying. Just two days ago she had caught him red handed (literally, his hands were red from all the blood) feasting on a minimum wage worker and had the whole fantasy world of vampires and the supernatural blown wide open. Most people would be in a nut house by now. Lucky for him, she's not most people.

Eventually they find a hotel to stay for the night. It's the best one the city has, but Blair still complains about thread count of the sheets. Seriously only 180? And they didn't even use Egyptian cotton.

The night at the hotel could have been a cliché scene from a sappy rom-com where they accidently book only one room with one bed instead of two, but it didn't happen that way much to his disappointment. Two rooms with two distinctly separate beds.

"You could always snuggle up with me if you get cold," he suggests.

"How would that help? It's not like you emit any heat. You're undead."

"We could try some exercising activities that will warm you up."

"Thanks, but I'll take my chances with the Mother Nature and the cold," she replies cattily before slamming her hotel door in his face.

Out of all the superpowers that vampire possessed he wished he had mind reading. Damon spends his night wondering what it was that Blair Waldorf was thinking about in the room next door. This is out of character for him since A) night time is Damon's favorite time to go out and about wrecking havoc not mulling about a hotel room and, B) he usually doesn't give two hoots about what goes on in the minds of teenage girls. But everything is going a little too well and if any past indication had taught him anything about Blair Waldorf, it's that she's making this way too easy for something not to be up.

On the other side of the wall, Blair sleeps soundly tucked into slightly inferior luxury sheets. Despite the lacking accommodations, she sleeps the slumber of best laid plans. And they say there's no rest for the wicked. Of course, she skipped the English class that one day they read Of Mice and Men*.

xxx

They arrive at Mystic Falls the next day. They park in front of the old Salvatore mansion and before he can take off his seat belt she stops him.

"What? Having second thoughts?"

"No… but I need you to promise me something."

He leans back in his seat, a knowing smile spreading on his face.

"I should've known you'd have something up your sleeve. You came around a little too quietly for there to be no ulterior motives."

"Would you have preferred if I came kicking and screaming?" she taunts.

"I always do like it a little rough."

She slaps his arm knowing full well by now that she could use all her strength and he probably wouldn't feel a thing.

"After all this is over and I return to the city… I need you to compel Nate."

"Oh, sounds fun. What should I make him do?" he asks mischievously.

Her face is serious when she answers him. "I need you… to make him to propose to me."

Damon stiffens at her request. A silent anger beginning to bubble from inside.

"No," he replies sharply, a frown gracing his elegant brows.

"No? What do you mean 'no'?" she can be angry, too.

"Why are you so fixated with that guy? He's worthless, less than worthless."

"He's Nate Archibald."

"So what?"

"So he's the key to everything! Without him I can't stay queen! Without him I'd lose whatever little ounce of approval from my mother! Without him-"

"Without him you'd be a lot more fun and a little less uptight! He's chaining you down. You don't need anybody's approval."

She scoffs. "For a centuries old vampire you sure are naïve. You have no idea what it cost me to go gallivanting off with you to do this gothic mission from hell. It was hard enough with him being all distant and my friends talking behind my back as it is, but this-"

"You're lucky I let you live," he snarls.

"I'm not afraid of dying."

He doesn't doubt her words. She's the type that would rather die young and glorious. She is in every essence the modern reincarnation of a beautiful tragic Greek heroine.

"No. Ask for something else."

"That's what I want, take it or leave it. You can slit open my throat right now if the terms aren't agreeable."

He stares back at her with disbelieving eyes.

"Honestly, Damon. Did you think I was going to ask you to turn me or something? Maybe you've been delving too much into those tween vampire romance novels, but I live in the real world. I want recognition, status, prestige! Why else would I try so hard to be the UES queen? I want people to recognize my face when I walk down the street. I'm not going to get that lurking in the shadows as a vampire now am I?"

They are silent as they glare each other down. From the topmost window, Stefan Salvatore spots his brother. As the younger Salvatore brother makes his way towards the parked car, Damon breaks his gaze with Blair.

"Fine," he bites out as he gets out of the car and slams the door shut.

Stefen is not pleased to see his brother back again after the failed attempt at opening the tomb that would free numerous undead predators into his hometown.

"Damon."

"Stefan. Miss me?"

"You'd have to be gone in order for me to do that."

"Everyone just loves you don't they?" Blair calls out as she makes her way to Damon's side. "Blair Waldorf. You must be Damon's brother, Stefan," she holds her hand out with a sugary smile. Her mood has improved now that she got her way, you can't say the same about Damon's temperament.

Stefan looks at her suspiciously before taking her hand in his in a brief shake.

"Yes… and who are you exactly, Blair Waldorf?"

"A friend of Damon's."

"Damon doesn't have any friends. His history with friends is rather… fatal, so not many are up to the job."

Blair slightly flinches at the mental images of Damon's many past acquaintances in a bloody pile much like that of the unfortunate cater waiter at her mother's luncheon. Luckily for the waitress she made it out alive. Blair hopes she'll fare better than just barely breathing.

"Yes, well… I don't swoon easily."

"Understatement of the year," Damon quips. "Are we gonna stand around here all day making idle chitchat? Because I for one am beat and I'd like to go in and take a nap."

"You're not invited," Elena calls from the just inside the door way.

"Elena, don't," Stephen shakes his head at her.

Damon laughs, pushes his way past his brother and towards the door. At the threshold he looks down, smirks at the angry brunette and steps through the door.

"You see, the problem with that little annoying vampiric trait is the house needs a human resident living inside to keep us nightcrawlers out. It was a minor pest control problem I neatly," he laughs "well not so neatly… handled. Nice try, but you should brush up on more of your vampire knowledge instead of just cuddling with my brother."

He gives the indignant Elena another smirk before casually pouring himself a glass of whiskey at the bar as if he owned the place. Technically he does, according to the will old Papa Salvatore drew up before the whole vampire hunting business started.

"Blair. Meet Elena. She's a bit of a saucy brunette too. Maybe you'll get along," Damon says smiling through his drink. "Maybe even become BFFs and have slumber parties with pillow fights. Be sure to invite me to the festivities." He adds a suggestive wink for good measure, Blair just rolls her eyes.

"Damon, seriously. What are you doing here?" Stefan persists.

"It's my house too, Stefan. Can't I just come home without any ulterior motive?"

"No," Elena supplies. "You're going to try something crazy and dangerous again."

"Hey, we're finally using our pretty little noggin. If you know I got something devious up my sleeve… do you really think I'm going to reveal it? Where's the fun in that?"

He polishes off his glass of liquid fire.

"If we're all done with the interrogation process… I'm gonna go to my room and make diabolical plots to destroy the world and what not."

Stefan, Elena and Blair are left watching him saunter up the stairs to his old room.

"Well… it was very nice to meet you all…" Blair smiles forcedly. "You do have someone to take care of my bags don't you?" She doesn't wait for an answer as she follows after Damon.

Stefan and Elena exchange nervous glances as Blair's figure disappears at the top of the stairs. Across town, a familiar feeling of uneasiness stirs in the pit of Bonnie's stomach. Hidden in her dresser, Emily's amulet flickers to life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * According to the ever so useful Wikipedia, "the title [Of Mice and Men] is taken from Robert Burns's poem, To a Mouse, which read: 'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley.'" Or in less gibberish terms… "The best laid plans of mice and men go awry." Foreshadowing! OoooooOooH. =)
> 
> A/N: Just for clarification purposes… So I kinda google mapped the distance between New York City and Virginia since that's where Mystic Falls is allegedly located and it's suppose to take about 7-8 hrs by car. Knowing Blair, she wouldn't be able to stand that long in a cramped old albeit very sexy bad boy mobile… so that's why they stopped for the night. Next up… the TOMB! Dun dun dun.


	6. Chapter 6

The amenities of the Salvatore mansion are much more to her liking and so he doesn't hear a peep out of her until breakfast the next morning.

"So… aside from annoying your brother and his house guest… what are you planning?" Blair asks while sipping her tea and picking at her toast.

"Yes, Damon. Care to enlighten us?" Stefan injects as he joins the two at the dining table. Stefan's tendency to "pop-up" during his private conversations is just one of the many annoyances of having an undead brother with super-hearing. Of course Stefan probably tells himself the same thing about Damon.

"I thought I was went over this yesterday. It's a s-e-c-r-e-t. As for you," he points a buttery knife in Blair's direction. "Eat your breakfast. I won't be having you faint on me when I need you."

She narrows her eyes at him and he returns the gesture albeit with more humor. She takes a defiant little nibble of her toast and sets it back down to be ignored as she rearranges the fruits on her plate. Her frowns at how she seems to be getting skinner and skinner everyday. Almost as if she was slowly wasting away. He's not ignorant of what her "habits" are, but it's not like he has any right to tell her what to eat. He has his own dietary problems.

Stefan snaps him out of his reverie.

"So if you can't tell us what your big master plan is… care to share your plans for the day?" Stefan prods.

"Oh, well I thought I would head into town… show Blair here around."

"I can do that!"

All three members of the table turn to face the newly arrived Elena Gilbert who pecks a quick kiss on the younger Salvatore's cheek before seating herself at the dining table.

"Don't you have school?" Damon asks.

"Teacher's conference day. We have the day off."

"Well… Blair wanted to go see Mystic Fall's college campus. She's hoping to apply next Fall."

"I did?"

"Yes… because that's why you're here."

Blair tries to convey her disapproval of his choice of excuse, but Damon won't have it. It's just an excuse anyways, so she decides not to be picky despite the mere thought of going to a small, middle of nowhere non-ivy school seemed highly repulsive.

"Yes… that's right. I wanted to see the college campus…"

"That's so great, because I was planning on checking it out, too," Elena supplies. "This way we can get to know one another."

"No, thank you," Blair replies bluntly, returning the other girl's smile for a fake one of her own.

Despite her efforts at being unpleasant, not that the task required much effort, the other brunette girl was completely unmoved.

"You're only a sophomore. Why would you want to go looking at college campuses for?"* Damon interrogates.

"It pays to start researching higher education early!" Elena replies perkily.

Members of the table, even Stefan, raise their eyebrows unconvinced. Damon doesn't like what the little ex-cheerleader was trying to do. Having a third wheel tag along with their morbid little adventure was not part of the s-e-c-r-e-t plan.

"Oh come on! It'll be great!" Elena shifts in her seat to directly face Damon. "Why don't you and Stefan hang out here and… catch up? While I go show Blair around?"

"Yes, Damon. I have some things to talk to you about," Stefan adds.

"I'm sure you do, but that doesn't mean I want to hear what you got to say," Damon says with a sweet smile that belies the malice in his eyes.

"There's some bad blood between us and I think it's time we got over that."

The tension in the room had suddenly risen. Elena and Blair both alternate their glances from one brother to the other.

After a long staring contest between the two siblings, Damon finally breaks the silence. "Fine. Blair, why don't you go with Elena while my brother and I go have a nice long chat."

"But I don't want to go with Elena," Blair says through gritted teeth, giving Damon her best defiant stare. This wasn't what she signed up for.

"Yeah well we all want a lot of things…" Damon replies.

Blair remains petulant and holds her glare. He's not, she repeats, NOT going to just ditch her with some stranger.

Damon sighs and takes one of her hands in his. "Blair, please?" He's using his most enticing, sweet voice.

She slaps his hand away and pushes herself out of her seat. The sound of the wooden chair scraping against the marble flooring makes Damon wince.

Marching to the front door and snatching up the car keys hanging besides the doorway Blair calls over her shoulder to Elena, "Are we going or what? We're taking Damon's car and I don't know how to drive." Elena hurries on over to follow her.

Sitting in the passenger's seat as Elena puts the key into the ignition, Blair inwardly groans at the thought of her precious time being wasted on some boring college tour of a campus she would never even consider applying to.

Back in the Salvatore dining room, Damon leans back in his chair and smiles. She can be sweet in her own way when she wants to be.

xxx

Blair suppresses the third yawn she has within five minutes after arriving at Mystic Fall's very own four year college. Their campus tour guide is a lanky pale guy with mouse brown hair who looks as bored and miserable as she was. In contrast, Elena continues to be bubbly and enthusiastic, oh-ing and ah-ing at everything they passed by. It greatly grated on Blair's nerves.

She's not here to make friends. She's here to help her vampire friend (although she's seriously thinking of downgrading him to acquittance) free his undead girlfriend and in return gain the means to finally and permanently win over the UES and cement her bright and shiny future.

Even if she was trying to make friends, this Elena girl was seriously freaking her out with the way she kept staring at her neck and tugging on her scarf. The other girl had asked more than once to "borrow" said scarf and while Blair isn't surprised that a small town girl like her being mesmerized by the glamorous New York fashion, really, enough is enough. Finally after much pestering, Blair relents and shoves the silk Hermes scarf at the girl.

"Here! You can have it."

What was odd was that even after finally getting her hands on the much coveted scarf, the other girl's face had taken on a puzzled and almost disappointed look. The oh-ing and ah-ing stops after that and Elena doesn't say another word until they reach the library part of the tour. Blair mentally shrugs her shoulders and attributes the weird behavior as something only small town folk do and something she would never understand.

xxx

During a particularly boring stretch of time during the campus tour, Elena takes Blair's hand and pulls her back allowing the rest of the group to go on ahead without them.

"I need to talk to you."

"And miss out on the exciting tour?" Blair replies sarcastically.

"It's about Damon."

"Of course it is."

"Look, I know he's like totally hot and charismatic and charming…"

"Is there a 'but' coming soon or what?"

"But he's dangerous," Elena finishes lamely.

"Oh great… another 'stay away from him, he's bad!' talk."

"He's not who you think he is!"

"You mean he's not a hundred and seventy-five year old vampire?"

Blair feels a slight tug of self-satisfaction at the surprised look on the other girl's face. After gaping like a goldfish for several seconds, Elena manages to sputter out a coherent sentence, albeit a short one.

"You know?"

Blair answers with a bored look. "Listen, are we going to go check out the study hall or what?"

"If you know what he is then you must know that he has certain powers. Powers to persuade you to do things he tells you to do."

"Yeah, that whole compulsion thing doesn't work on me. Listen, this little tour thing is kind of boring and I'm guessing it was just all part of ruse for you to warn me against Damon anyhow. So… since we got that annoying part out of the way, I'm gonna go on ahead and you can stay there with your mouth open in shock. I'll meet you back at the house in an hour."

Before Elena can compose a coherent thought Blair had already turned a corner and disappeared.

xxx

After being abandoned by Damon's new girl toy (Elena doesn't believe for a second that Damon hasn't twisted the poor girl's mind one way or another), Elena finds herself wandering back to the Salvatore mansion. She finds Stefan in his room looking through some letters with yellowing pages.

"Hey."

"Hey. Back so soon? It's only…" Stefan takes a glance at his wristwatch. "11. I know the campus is small, but I didn't think it was that small."

"Blair ditched me."

"Seems like Damon picked an interesting one."

"I'll say," Elena sighs as she collapses on the sofa. Blair Waldorf had tired her out. And she thought Caroline's cattiness was bad.

"Despite our personal opinions about her... we need to get her away from him."

"Are you sure? Because I'm beginning to think he's finally found his perfect match. Where is the evil incarnate anyways? I thought you guys were supposed to be hanging out?"

"Right after you guys left I tried to get him to talk to me, but he just avoided conversation as per usual and then slipped out."

Stefan sighed, rubbing his temples in agitation.

"What concerns me most is the girl. I don't understand why he's bringing in someone new and from New York of all places into all this. Blair Waldorf is definitely someone who will be missed if she's gone, judging by the designer luggage I hauled up for her yesterday. Damon's reckless, but he's not stupid. If he's using her as his personal 24 hour deli the way he was using Caroline-"

"She knows. Everything. And she says that he's not biting her."

Elena gives Stefan a moment to process the shocking information.

"She knows? And he's not biting her? That would definitely be out of character of Damon. He probably just told her to say that."

"She says compulsion doesn't work on her."

"Then clearly Damon's got her more warped than we thought."

"We don't know that… maybe… maybe he's changed?"

Stefan shoots Elena a disbelieving look.

"I haven't noticed any bite marks on her neck."

"Damon doesn't always go for the jugular… he's more of a fan of the femoral artery."

Elena rolls her eyes. "I'm not surprised. But… she was pretty convincing…"

"Then we have to find out for sure. If he is feeding on her, she will need to get those puncture wounds cleaned up properly or they'll fester. I don't want to see any more innocent people get hurt because of his selfishness. Can you check it out?"

"I'm all for rescuing damsels in distress, but how am I suppose to do that? With Caroline, she just hid the bite marks with scarves and even then it was hard to get her to take them off."

"Don't girls like… shower together at the gym? Go invite her to yoga or something," Stefan suggests weakly.

"Yeah… or something," Elena mocks. "Maybe Bonnie would know what to do… she hasn't been answering my calls all day."

"Maybe she's still reeling from the last time Damon was in town. Let her have her peace."

"Yeah, you're right," Elena lets out her millionth sigh of the day. "I'm just worried. I wish he would just leave. I don't want anymore people to get hurt either."

xxx

Later that afternoon Elena finds Blair lounging in the library, a copy of Jane Austen in her hands. Blair's eyes dart up briefly to register the other girl's presence before flickering back to her book. Elena suppresses a groan as she seats herself down next to the other brunette.

"So… how are you doing?"

"Good."

"How's the book?"

"Good."

This wasn't going to be easy.

"How did you get back here?"

"Met a guy, he gave me a ride. Men are so easy, just bat a few eyelashes at them and you'll have them eating out of the palm of your hand."

"I see."

Elena mentally adds more things to her list of striking similarities between Blair Waldorf and Damon Salvatore. Manipulation of the opposite sex. Check.

"Do you know when Damon's coming back?" Blair asks, looking up from her book.

"No… he kind of just comes and goes whenever he wants."

Blair scoffs and mumbles curses under her breath. "Typical."

Conversation falls flat once again and after yet another awkward silence, Elena tries once more at facilitating a dialogue.

"So, there's this… yoga social thing happening at the YMCA later on today… do you like… wanna go check it out?"

"No thanks. My trainer doesn't like me working out with amateurs. Thinks it'll make me form bad habits that he'll have to correct and it would be a hassle and so on..."

Blair turns a page in her book.

"Oh. I see."

So much for Stefan's plan. Elena gets up from her precarious position perched on edge of the large oak desk and seats herself next to the Blair on the leather sofa. Blair scrunches up her nose in annoyance, but pulls her feet in to give the Elena some room.

Elena steels herself for her task. She needs to find out if this Blair Waldorf is really telling the truth or not. It's time to get more aggressive otherwise she would be getting nowhere.

"It's pretty sunny out today. Aren't you hot? You must be hot. Let's take off the sweater."

Elena reaches over in attempt to pull off Blair's cardigan, but Blair moves out of the way, closing her book.

"What sun are you talking about? Ones behind dense, frigid clouds? It's like 45 degrees in here. I'm not taking off my sweater."

"Do you like swimming? We can swim!"

"No. Thanks. Didn't you just hear what I said? It's freezing."

"I know where there's a heat pool!"

Once again Elena reaches over to tug on Blair's sweater.

"Stop being weird."

Blair gets up to leave, but Elena stands up too and follows her.

"How about a bath? A nice hot bath then to warm you up. Come on, I'll even draw the water for you."

Once again Elena is enthusiastic her efforts to save the poor humans caught in the Damon's twisted web of lies and deceit.

Elena successfully ushers a confused and weirded out Blair into the spacious Salvatore bathroom and manages to rid Blair of her sweater, finally.

"Hey! Stop it. What are you doing?" Blair complains as Elena unceremoniously unzips her dress and is currently in the process of trying to slip the whole thing off. "Hey! That's an Eleanor Waldorf Original! Be careful! What the hell?" Blair pushes the other brunette girl away before her said Waldorf Original drops to the floor. "What's your problem? It's like you're trying to take off my clothes all day."

"Yes, Elena. Why are you trying to get Blair naked? Not that I'm complaining."

The sound of Damon's voice coming from the doorway startles both girls.

"I'm not dressed! Get out of here, perv!" Blair shouts as she throws an unlit votive candle at him. "And you, too! Get out!"

Elena groans and tears at her hair.

"I'm just trying to look out for you. I'm making sure your bite wounds aren't getting infected or anything."

"I told you he is not biting me."

"Obviously he's got you wrapped around his little finger."

"I'm really not… biting her, that is," Damon injects into the conversation. With a wink towards Blair, he adds, "Not that I haven't been tempted."

"I said get out!" Blair throws a towel this time.

"Jeez! It's not like I haven't seen breasts before," Damon calls over his shoulder as he walks away.

Both girls glare indignantly at the elder Salvatore's retreating figure.

"He's such a prick sometimes," Blair mumbles under her breath.

"More like all the time," Elena replies. "If he's really not compelling you or feeding on you, which I don't understand like… at all, then what the hell are you doing with him? Can't you see he's a monster?"

Blair flinches a little at the harshness of Elena's accusations.

"If Damon is a monster, then what is your boyfriend, Stefan? They are brothers you know."

"Stefan's different. He's not a killer-"

"Oh, please. Spare me the self-hating, broody vampire redemption crap. I've watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know how the story goes. And Angel was a moody bore if you asked me."

"You still haven't answered my question."

Blair walks over to the large vanity mirror and rearranges her clothes. She runs a hand through her mahogany curls and smiles at Elena through the reflection.

"I'm with Damon because we have a deal."

"Any deal with Damon is a deal with the devil."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. Damon is bad. You're like a broken record."

She turns around and leans against the vanity table to face Elena who was still sitting on the floor surrounded by discarded clothing.

"Listen, thanks for the girl scout advice, but really. I'm fine. No need to look out for me. Damon and I will hurry up with our little plan and then we'll both get out of your hair. So just sit tight, okay?" Blair said in a tone of finality.

She gives the brunette on the floor what was suppose to be a comforting, but came out as condescending, pat on the shoulder as she walks out of the bathroom to follow after Damon. As she turns the corner she hears Elena scream after her "What plan?"

xxx

She finds him in his room looking through a fragile looking leather bound journal with archaic symbols and drawings sprawled across the pages.

"Enough of this, Damon," Blair sighs, leaning against the door frame. "I've been dragged all through town by your gracious host from the decrepit college campus to the dingy sorry excuse for a mall-"

"Elena and you went shopping?"

"No, some guy took me after I ditched the campus tour thing."

"You just went off with a stranger?"

"He was harmless." As if as an afterthought Blair adds, "And he had a nice car," as jibe at Damon and his retro vehicle of choice.

"I don't like you going off with strangers."

"What do you think I'm doing right now with you?"

"That hurts. I thought we were at least past acquaintances. Maybe move on to friends with benefits?"

"Stop trying to be cute, Damon. Where are we going to do now?"

He shuts the journal in his hand with a snap.

"Playtime's over. We're going to the tomb."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I have no clue how old Elena actually is, but I'm assuming she's a sophomore? And I believe that since this fic takes place pre-pilot in the GG universe, Blair and the gang should be in the beginnings of junior year still. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all I know is that GG's season 1 was junior year and then season 2 senior and so on… If it's not… opps. Just pretend that it is for the sake of the story ok? =)
> 
> A/N: So! I was going to put a scene where they're actually AT the tomb, but I think I'll leave that for the next chapter since there's going to be some MAJOR revelations in there and this seemed to be a good transition piece that will lead into that. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

"When are we going?" Blair asks.

"Now."

"Now?"

"You were just complaining about us not doing anything," Damon accuses.

"It's always like a game of 'red light, green light' with you isn't it?" she retorts.

"What can I say? I like to keep you on your toes."

Damon moves to put back a book on the bookshelf behind Blair and for a brief moment their faces are mere centimeters apart. If he wanted to he could just lean in and kiss her. She almost wants him to.

"So that thing about becoming friends with benefits?"

Almost. She smirks and pushes him out of her way. Despite the rapid beating of her heart, which Damon mentally notes, she's a bit relieved that he had not kissed her. That would have just complicated things and she likes things the way they are.

"If we're going to be trekking about in the woods, I'm going to need to change into something more... comfortable."

He raises a quirked eyebrow.

"Do you have something like that? I've never even seen in you jeans before."

"That's because jeans are for cowboys and lumberjacks," Blair answers over her shoulder as she turns around to exit Damon's room.

As Damon watches Blair leave he fantasizes how good those slender legs of hers would look like in a nice pair of tight Americana blue jeans. Better yet, how good she'll look with them off.

Katherine won't begrudge him some mental fantasies right?

xxx

Blair emerges a few minutes later in a handsome pair of slim fitting chino slacks that look fresh off the runway along with a complementing cream silk blouse. Her hair is done up in a loose bun with strands that frame her face attractively. She's the picture of someone ready for a leisurely day at the country club, not a muddy hike through wild woodland.

"So this is your definition of 'comfortable'."

"I'm wearing pants aren't I?" Blair retorts with her hands on her hips.

"You are aware that we would be walking at least two miles into the forest."

"Yes," she answers as if he was stupid.

"And you're going to wear those," Damon looks pointedly at Blair's matching nude Louboutin pumps.

"These are my comfiest pair of shoes."

He doesn't doubt her for a minute.

With a sigh Damon walks over to the hallway coat closet and rummages through it. He comes out with a pair of worn in sneakers in his hands.

"Wear these."

Blair wrinkles her nose at them. "But they're… ugly. And dirty."

"You won't be complaining when your feet aren't hurting halfway to the tomb. They're Stefan's. The boy has remarkably small girlish feet. They should fit you if you double up on socks and tighten the laces some."

"I don't want Stefan's ratty old sneakers."

"You know… this whole thing would be easier if I could just compel you to do what I say."

"If you could compel me to do what you say then there wouldn't have been a point in me even being here because then I wouldn't be a witch," Blair counters.

"Blair, I'm not going to have you whine about a broken heel five minutes into the hike up to the tomb. Just take the shoes."

"Can't I just ride on your back like how Bella did on Twilight?"

"I am neither A) Edward or B) a horse. So the answer is no."

"Ugh!" Blair rolls her eyes and kicks off her heels, replacing them with the mud encrusted sneakers. "There. Happy?"

"Delightful," Damon answers with a condescending smile. "Now, about your blouse…"

How is it that he manages to make her seesaw between wanting him to kiss her one minute and slapping the smirk off his face in another?

xxx

After much discussion about proper attire followed by threats of manual labor and shoveling (they are going to a tomb after all, grave digging is part of the gothic theme) the pair finally make their way to the tomb. Blair had relented to switching her silk blouse with, God forbid, a T-shirt, but would not budge on the chino pants.

The trip was more of a reconnaissance mission anyhow. With the witch's amulet last seen blown to smithereens, Damon needs to find the witch's grimoire which he suspect is buried in the Bennett ancestral graves. From what he knows from past experience with witches, the spell book is most likely enchanted so that only another witch could touch it, which was what prevented him from looking for it on his own in the first place.

After a several minutes of trekking through the overgrown woods, they reach the clearing before the ancient mausoleum. Just as Damon motions to approach the great steel gates he hears the sound of a twig breaking in the forest. He snaps his gaze back at the direction they came from, his eyes searching for the intruder.

"Get behind me," Damon warns Blair. She's quick to follow his directions. "Come on out! I know you're there! I can hear you breathing," Damon shouts at the supposedly empty trees.

After a long silent interlude, a voice from the dark emerges.

"Back for round two? You just don't give up do you?"

He would recognize that voice anywhere.

A figure steps out of the shadows, a girl with pretty olive skin and dark eyes and dark hair.

"You!" He glances at the amber pendant hanging around the newcomer's neck. "I thought that thing was destroyed the last time you and I spoke."

"Apparently some things aren't meant to stay broken," the girl answers ominously.

"Someone you know I'm guessing," Blair says from behind him.

"Yes, but not fondly," Damon snarls.

"Obviously…" Blair mutters under her breath.

The witch has taken on her descendant's body again. How and why? He doesn't know, but he has a taste for vengeance tonight.

"Damon…"

Damon turns his gaze back on the witch in front of him.

"Emily."

"I see you've brought more people into your sick twisted schemes. Nice shoes by the way," Emily addresses the last part to Blair.

"Don't remind me," Blair drawls out contemptuously. "Just for the record, the T-shirt was not my idea either."

In spite of themselves, Blair and Emily share a small smile before quickly retreating back to their respective opposing sides.

"Sorry to break up the slumber party, but I have a bone to pick with you, witch."

Damon nudges Blair further behind him as he measures up the young woman before him. Once again Damon finds his eyes settling on the bright stone pendant hanging on a simple silver chain.

"How convenient. You brought the amulet to me. I was hoping to avoid having to dig up your ancestors to find the witch's grimoire. You've greatly expedited my plans for tonight. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't kill you and your little vessel when I had the chance. Not for lack of trying, though," Damon says with an evil grin.

"You won't lay a hand on Bonnie."

"Oh, yeah? And what's going to stop me?"

"You're not going to kill me. You know that me and mine are one of the last few remaining witches left in the world. Even if you do manage to find the grimoire you wouldn't even be able to touch it, let alone use it. You need me to open that tomb."

"Which you have refused to do the last time I tried asking nicely. That was my mistake. Besides I don't need you anymore. Now, you're just in my way."

Without another word Damon rushes the little backstabbing witch, fangs extended, ready to rip her throat out. Emily is fast and manages to throw him backwards with her power. Blair watches from the sidelines with wide eyes at the terrifying power struggle.

"You're being stupid, Damon. If you kill me, there's no other witch you can use to open Katherine's tomb!" Emily cries out in between dodging his attacks.

Damon quickly picks himself back up.

"I already found myself a new witch. All I want from you is your blood dripping from that pretty vertebral artery of yours."

Damon and Emily circle each other, each waiting for the other to strike first.

"Oh, is that what you little girlfriend over there is?" Emily taunts, eying Blair at the corner of her eye. "She doesn't look like much of a witch."

"Hey! I might be new to this whole hocus pocus thing, but I'll have you know I'm the school valedictorian with a 5.0 GPA!" Blair points out at the sidelines.

Emily gives her an amused smirk that makes Blair's hand itch to slap off. So much for that brief moment of amiability.

"I'd worry about myself if I were you," Damon growls.

Without another word Damon lunges at the witch's neck once more, fangs bared. Emily was distracted and gets knocked to the ground. Her head cracks on the ground in a way that makes Blair flinch, but soon enough the witch is back standing up and this time with hands glowing with eerie blue-green fire. Damon makes a strategic move back as the witch composes herself, the fire in her hands changing into a blazing hot white blue. Emily sends various streams of flames towards the elusive vampire, but he dodges all them.

They continue a sort of cat and mouse dance with either side alternating between the roles of predator and prey. The flames of the witch's fire leave various bushes on fire and tree trunks scorched. The heat of it all makes Blair glad that Damon had insisted that she wear a T-shirt.

"Give it up! I'm too fast for your witchfire."

Blair could see that Emily was getting tired and from the looks on her face, Emily knows it, too. Soon her strength will run out and then Damon would finally be able to rip her throat out as he had threatened before. For a second the two girls' eyes turn to meet one another across the expanse of scorched earth. Blair doesn't like what she sees in the other's girl's eyes.

Desperation.

And perhaps a bit of remorse.

Emily breaks their gaze and turns back to address Damon.

"You might be able to dodge my fire… but she won't."

In a scene akin to a nightmare, Emily turns to face Blair, who was watching in what he had presumed to be a safe distance.

He sees it happening, but can't seem to force himself to move fast enough to stop it. His dead heart clenches with a feeling he doesn't quite recognize, or perhaps forgotten.

"NOOOOOO!"

He's within two feet of Blair only to register her shocked, horrified expression before the witch's flames engulfs her and the force of the fire throws him backwards onto the ground.

The fire continues to burn and Damon quickly scrambles to his feet and tackles Emily to the ground. The sheer ferocity of his assault stuns her and Damon quickly uses the opportunity to grip her neck and squeeze.

Emily manages to use her magic to force him off of her and while she's coughing for air she looks up at the blaze that was suppose to be one Blair Waldorf, she's completely shaken like she's never had before and it's not because she still can't seem to catch her breath from Damon's chokehold.

Damon is full of rage. He was so close. If only he ran faster, acted quicker. Done something! He could already smell her singed flesh being burned by Emily's witchfire.

Except he doesn't.

Damon's ready to have his hands around the witch's neck once more, but before he can prepare an ambush a familiar voice stops him.

"Damon!"

He whips his head around to where the flames were still burning. As the fire dies down, to the astonishment of both him and Emily, Blair Waldorf is standing in the exact same spot as when the flames had first swallowed her without a single scratch nor hair out of place. Her perfectly coiffured hair and unmarred tailored chino pants makes for a stark contrast with the charred and burnt ground beneath her feet.

For a long while everyone is just reeling from the shock of such a phenomenon. Considering that all the participants in this little fiasco are some form of supernatural being, the abnormality of the event is even more striking. The smug smirk that soon tugs on Blair's lips is even more striking when contrasted with the baffled party of Emily and Damon.

"Hm! Impressive display of fireworks you have going there. Maybe I could book you for my mother's next party?" Blair jibes.

Panicked thoughts had run through her head when she first saw the flames coming towards her, but the feeling soon dissipated when they couldn't touch her. She couldn't even feel the heat after the first few seconds. All bark and no bite. She quickly rallies the situation to her favor with the realization that the witch's magic can't touch her.

xxx

The utter amazement at the miraculous phenomenon that had occurred in front of their eyes distracts the two supernatural beings from ripping out each other's throats.

"Why aren't you ash?" Emily asks in astonishment.

"Because… I moisturize really well?" she mocks sneeringly.

"Witches aren't themselves impervious to other witches are they?" Damon asks.

Their collective amazement and curiosity makes them forget that just moments ago they were in the middle of a death match.

"No… they're not… But maybe that's because she's not a witch."

"I'm not?"

"She not?"

Puzzlement consumes Blair. If she wasn't a witch then what the hell was she?

"You're just trying to save your own skin because I need a witch to open the tomb," Damon argues.

"Then why don't you explain why she's not dead," Emily counters.

"Then what is it?" Damon's confused and frustrated and a little bit afraid. One hundred and seventy-five years. He thought he'd know everything by now.

"Yes, please. Enlighten me to what just happened here," Blair presses.

"There's only two ways you could have survived witchfire… One is if you had used a counter spell, but I know you didn't because if you did the fire would have been cancelled out in the first place before even reaching you… the other…"

Emily pauses in her speech to collect herself.

"I-I've never met one before, but I've read about them. I just can't believe it…"

"What is it? Spit it out!" Blair cries out impatiently.

Frankly, Blair is tired of this whole supernatural thing. Is she a witch or isn't she? The whole world seemed to be holding its breath as Emily conjures up the nerve to speak.

"… You're an Immune."

Blair Waldorf's world gets turn upside down for the second time ever since she laid eyes on Damon Salvatore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In terms of how canon the vampire mythology of the Vampire Diaries is in this fic, I'm gonna take some liberties with it just for the sake of the story. I have been keeping up to date with both shows, but since this is a bit of a crack!fic anyways… a lot of things that happened or is happening in the shows will be ignored or altered to fit my plot purposes. So please bear with me. I left this chapter in a bit of a cliffhanger which can be annoying I know. _ But I'm going to try and flesh out the whole Immune business and update as soon as possible, so stay tuned! Thank you to all people who continue to read and review! I love you all!
> 
> A/N #2: Just a clarification, Immunes are something I came up with (well more like ripped off from the Enchanted Inc. series by Shanna Swendson, which are greeeeeeeeat and should totally be read by anyone who loves quirky smart heroines in fantasy romances). I'm taking liberties with the fantasy mythology here and will be building up more background and info on what exactly an immune is in the next chapter. =) Also you can find some chapter graphics/mini picspam of the first three chapters on my livejournal! .. Check them out!


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm a… what?"

"An Immune. It's what we call humans like you. It doesn't happen often, but there are a few humans in the world who are born completely immune to supernatural forces."

"But… why?"

"It's something to do with your blood. I don't know the details since there have never been many of your kind to study… but unlike regular human's blood, yours has a defect that makes you unsusceptible to our kind. Nothing magical can affect you. No illusion or force or creature."

"Are you saying I'm defective?" Blair demands incredulously.

"Simply put, you're a mutation. The equivalent of a two-headed snake," Damon clarifies. It all begins to make sense.

"Gee, thanks for the flattering comparison."

"You're welcome," Damon replies with an infuriating smile.

"That means, she can't help you open that tomb," Emily points out.

Damon answers the witch with a glare. "Then I'll figure out another way."

"I'd like to propose a deal."

"You already backstabbed me once, witch. What makes you think I'm going to fall for it a second time? Hell, what makes you think I'm not going to snap your neck any second?"

"Because you need me. And I need her," Emily states, pointing toward Blair's direction.

"Me? What am I suppose to do? If I was actually a witch, maybe. But I'm a freaking Immune or whatever."

"Precisely. It's because of that little immunity of yours to spells that makes you so valuable. I need you to help me break one. Katherine's to be exact."

"Vampires can't cast spells," Damon injects.

"But they can buy one if they offered enough to the right witch and Katherine was well endowed with more than the feminine flesh. It's always been easy for her to swindle her way into wealthy young men's pockets... and pants," Emily smirks at the last part. She had had front row seats to the various kinds of depravity Katherine indulged in. If anything, Emily thinks the Salvatores are stupid, naïve, love-sick puppies wrapped around Katherine's finger.

"And what exactly does this spell do?" Damon inquires.

"It binds me to this earth. My body has turned to dust long ago, but my spirit cannot die. My soul is unable to move on to whatever afterlife there is. It's a curse on me and mine, Katherine's way of keeping us in servitude to do her dirty work even after death. She was always complaining about the mortality of the inferior witch race. She forgets that I could turn her into cinders if only I was free of my leash, a fact I dearly would like to remind her-"

Damon narrows his eyes and Emily pauses in her rant to smile an angelic smile.

"Well… It has been several centuries now… I guess bygones should be bygones. I just want my freedom back, as well as the guarantee of the freedom and safety of my family from further enslavement by your bloodsucking kind. If you help me get that, I promise not to hurt your precious Katherine. You don't have much to lose. You won't find another witch willing to open a tomb full of angry, starving vampires and let them loose into the world."

The witch makes a good point and Damon, despite his reluctance, is seriously considering the offer. The chance of finding another witch is slim to none as their kind have gone into deep hiding for at least three hundred years after the Salem Witch trials. Not to mention the less than amiable relationship between the vampires and witches makes it difficult to even deal with one should he find her. Katherine's exploitation of the Bennett witches being a prime example.

"I don't get it. Why would you want to help us free Katherine in the first place? I mean it's not like she can order you around from inside the tomb. If she could, she would've commanded you to free her a long time ago." Blair points out. "That is to say she was clever enough to have tried… but then again she did get herself captured and thrown into a tomb by a cliché angry mob of puritans despite her being the superior vampire being and all," Blair makes sure to use air quotes around the word "superior" with her signature bitchy condescension.

Emily looks like she wants to give her two cents about what she thinks about Katherine and her intelligence, but thinks better of it.

Damon gives Blair a pointed look and she merely shrugs her shoulders before turning back to Emily.

"What I'm trying to say is why the need to cross over? You can just keep floating around, haunting people and doing other ghostly things. It doesn't sound so terrible."

"The problem with just 'floating around' is that my spirit has the same physiological need as the living. I'll feel hunger, but I cannot eat. I'll thirst, but I won't be able to drink. Anything of substance passes through me. Even when I'm in a vessel, I cannot remedy the hunger or the thirst. I have been in constant pain for more than a hundred years. I'm quite literally a starving ghost. It is torture," Emily emphasizes.

"Well… that kinda sucks, but Damon doesn't trust you and I'm with him so…" Blair glances over Damon for affirmation.

He's been silent in contemplation; she could almost hear the gears turning in his head. After a long moment he looks back at her meaningfully, to which she answers with a sigh and a nod, and then back at Emily.

"What do we have to do?" Damon asks reluctantly.

Emily smiles the kind of smile of somebody who's gotten their way.

"Easy, steal a necklace."

xxx

Deals are made and plans are laid out. It's basically a simple bartering system once you look at it. Damon wants Emily to open the tomb to free Katherine, Emily wants Blair to free her from Katherine's spell, Blair wants Damon to compel Nate. There's also things Stefan and Elena want, but right now they don't matter.

Damon is sent off to go gather some supplies for the spell ritual and Blair is left with the real witch drawing archaic figures in the dirt.

"Why are you doing this for him?" Emily asks, breaking the silence since Damon left.

"Because… he asked me to."

"Is it so simple?"

Blair smiles a devious smile. "Maybe it's because I like having a vampire owe me a favor."

"Damon can't be trusted."

Blair rolls her eyes. As if she hadn't heard that one before. There's a whole Anti-Damon campaign running around evidently.

"If I recall correctly, he upheld his end of the bargain between the two of you. It was you who broke the deal. Pot. Kettle. Black."

"I couldn't let Katherine be freed. She'll continue to hold power over me or my family. At least for now with her trapped in there, it's only me who is enslaved to her. Sometimes the ends justify the means."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, sister. Let's get this whole hocus pocus business over with."

Blair continues copying the symbols Emily showed her in the dirt.

"Once Damon gets back with your rabbit's foot and eye of newt or what-not, we can get this show on the road. Break undead girlfriend out, steal pendant, smash pendant that will free your witch clan from eternal servitude in the afterlife and then I can go back to New York where my Christian Louboutins won't get ruined from marching around in the mud."

"It's not that simple. There's some process to breaking the spell on the pendant, merely smashing it won't help."

"Well, I cliffnoted it."

"What is 'cliffnote'?"

"I keep forgetting that you were like… really old. Remind me again… Why couldn't you have just stolen the stupid thing yourself?"

"Don't you think I haven't tried? I can't touch it. It's part of the curse."

"You Supernaturals are all so complicated."

"As if you're so simple and easygoing," Emily retorts.

"Hey! All I want is a little fame and power. Sounds simple to me."

It's Emily's turn to roll her eyes. She finishes her drawings in the dirt with a smile.

"I'm finished."

"Finally!" Blair exclaims, getting up from her crouched position and brushing the dust off her expensive tailored pants. "Is this the part where you start chanting?"

"Not until Damon comes back."

Just then Damon breaks free into the clearing, his arms laden with various witchy objects.

"Speak of the devil…" Blair mutters under her breath.

"I heard that," Damon answers.

Blair merely smiles angelically at him.

"You're just in time," Emily remarks as she motions him over. "Just set that over there."

Everything's laid out and the forest clearing looks like a scene from an old horror movie with pentagons, pentagrams, magic circles and all. Emily steps into the middle of it all and closes her eyes.

"Stand back," she commands.

The vampire and the Immune are quick to follow instructions. Emily raises her hands and soon little fires ignite all around them. She chants in some sort dead language that sounds slightly like Latin, but off somehow, and the flames grow brighter. It's yet another impressive display of fireworks from the witch and Blair seriously considers talking to Emily after all this is over about a possible gig for her next birthday bash.

Emily finishes her incantation and the flames quickly extinguish themselves leaving long trails of smoke. Damon and Blair both quickly cast their glances to the large marble tomb doors.

After several minutes, aside from lingering smoke coating Blair's eyes and nose, nothing happens.

"The tomb's not opening," Blair points out.

"I'm a witch, not a genie. These things take time, especially for such a large spell as this. I've uplifted the first layer of the spell that binds the tomb. We'll have to come back and break the others once I get the proper ingredients."

"What ingredients? I got you all that you asked already," Damon bites out.

"For this layer of the spell. I will need to prepare other things for the next layer of the spell. It will take time"

"And how many layers are there exactly?" Damon asks skeptically.

"Three. We can come back to unseal the next layer tomorrow if I can get what I need from the other Bennett witches, but for the last one we will have to wait till the next full moon."

"How do I know you're not just making this all up?" he demands suspiciously.

"I told you why I wouldn't open it before. Why would I lie now?"

"Because you're sick and twisted."

"I think you're projecting your own personality onto me, Damon. I told you. This spell is complicated. I need to make preparations."

"Fine. We'll meet again tomorrow night. Same place, same time."

"Oh, just one more thing."

"What?" Damon growls in exasperation.

"You need to take Bonnie home."

Without another word, the witch collapses on the floor.

"What… just happened?" Blair asks. Things only seem to get stranger and stranger every day.

"Emily oh so conveniently decided to leave her host for the evening," Damon replies sarcastically. "Leaving us an unconscious girl to take care of. What am I? A pack mule?"

"Is the girl alright?"

"She'll be fine. Probably won't remember a thing. She's Elena's friend though so we better make sure she gets back home safely unless you want some more whining and complaining from the do-gooder duo."

Damon picks up the limp witch and throws her over his shoulders as if she weighed about as much as a feather.

"Are you going to be ok?" he asks. The day had been very long and rough. He wouldn't blame her if she pulled out now. He'd even let her do it…maybe. She is kinda crucial after all. The least he could do is make sure she's ok. "Look, I know this wasn't what you were in for…"

"Hey, I can survive witchfire. Can you do that, vampire boy?" She teases. "Don't you worry about me, I'm just dandy. Not everyone's an Immune you know. I always knew I was special," she replies, her voice full of narcissism.

They share a smirk, his relieved, hers cocky. Only Blair would find ways to twist a genetic defect to something favorable.

He would've let her go, but he's glad she's not doing it. He needs her.

"Common. Let's get the witch back in her bed so we can all go home," he says, extending his free hand out to her.

She doesn't hesitate when she takes it.

They return back from dropping off an unconscious Bonnie/Emily to find a black limo parked in front of the Salvatore Mansion across the field. As they make their way towards it, two familiar figures get out of the car. Out of all the crazy things that have went on tonight, this was definitely something neither of them would have ever predicted.

"What are they doing here?" Damon hisses.

"I-I have no idea."

From across the grassy lawn Damon Salvatore and Chuck Bass exchange glares.

"Stay here. I'll handle this," Blair instructs as she marches her way across the green expanse that separated the grand graveled Salvatore driveway from the borders of wild forest. She comes to a stop in front of the two boys she left back in New York. Chuck has on a somewhat bemused expression whilst Nate is leaning against the side of the limo, hands in pockets, looking somber.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Chuck takes in the image of Blair in an oversized T-shirt and beat up sneakers with a quirked brow.

"The question should be what are you wearing?" Chuck asks with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

Blair snaps her fingers in front of his face to get him from oogling at her footwear.

"Please spare me a fashion critique from the guy who thinks polka dotted bowties goes well with a purple shirt. And answer my question! What are you doing here?"

"What? Not even a 'hello' for your dear old friend and loving boyfriend? We deserve at least that what with you getting up and disappearing on us without a word."

"Hello. Now what are you doing here?" she screeches.

"Lower the volume won't you, Waldorf? Would you believe me if I said we're on vacation?"

"Chuck Bass… vacationing in Virginia?" the disbelief in Blair's voice was apparent.

"Well, you're here, aren't you? There must be something to this place that the mass populace missed." Chuck looks down and grimaces at the mud stain on his expensive Italian leather shoes. "Although I can't see what."

Nate is still standing by the limo, hands in his pockets, his face unreadable. Blair eyes him, but he still refuses to meet her gaze. The golden boy seems to have developed a fascination with the top of his shoes since she had left. After several attempts of trying to silently coerce the blonde to look at her with her bitchiest glare, she returns her attention back on Chuck.

"I don't buy it. At all," Blair emphasizes. Something fishy was definitely going on here.

"It wasn't my idea alright?" Chuck continues. "I just happen to be the one with the limo."

"And why did you guys need a limo?"

"Why did you leave in the middle of midterms to go college hunting in Mystic Falls?" Chuck returns. "What kind of name is that anyways? I'm all for playing hooky, but I didn't even know you knew of any other college besides Harvard, Yale and Princeton."

"For your information Mystic Falls College is a…" Blair struggles valiantly to come up with a good adjective to describe the abysmal place and comes up with nothing flattering. "Well it has a nice… library," Blair answers weakly.

"Yeah… 'I don't buy it'," Chuck mocks.

They were going no where and Blair was sick of trading barbs with Chuck.

"Fine! Believe whatever you want. Vacation wherever you want. I don't care! But you're not staying here."

"As if I wanted to stay at the El Salvatore Bed and Breakfast anyways. If it was up to me, we'd be in Fiji sipping margaritas on topless beaches, but there was somebody who really wanted to see you."

Chuck steps aside and opens the limo door. Emerging from the dark limo were long tanned legs clad in sky high heels followed by the unmistakable glistening blonde hair to match. Even in the drafty, gray Virginian weather she manages to glow and shine in such an easy, effortless manner that makes Blair instantly regret eating that extra yogurt at breakfast and allowing Damon to talk her into wearing a T-shirt and sneakers.

"Hi, Blair."

"Hello, Serena."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Gossip Girl wouldn't be complete without Serena and Blair drama. =) Also I think Serena would be an interesting presence to have in Mystic Falls. Maybe flirt with Stefan and make Elena jealous? Stefan is sorta like Dan since their both poetic writer types (Stefan has a diary for god's sake), so he'd totally fall for her (especially if she's playing the nice, sweet, GOOD Serena that she was in the pilot). Anyways, Damon has a few opinions about the BFF's return as well and he's definitely not under the Van der Woodsen spell. So that's what's coming up next time. Stay tuned and please read and review! 3


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm back, B."

Once again, Blair Waldorf is given two choices on how to react in a situation. Serena is back. Her best friend in the whole wide world is back. And she doesn't know if she should be happy or angry.

"I can see that," Blair replies coldly.

She chooses the latter.

"B, I know you're upset with me."

"I don't think 'upset' is a strong enough word." She responds and then turns to Chuck and Nate with an accusatory glare. "What were you thinking, bringing her here?"

"I thought you'd be happy," Chuck answers.

"You thought wrong."

"Just hear her out, Blair," Nate speaks for the first time.

"Blair, I came back for you!"

"You left, S. You've been gone for an entire year and without telling me anything. I had to hear it from Gossip Girl."

"I know."

"You didn't call, you didn't write. Nothing. That day that you left, I waited for you on the Met steps. You knew that I was waiting. I needed you then, S. Where were you? You knew what was going on with my mom and dad. You knew and you ditched me anyways. We were supposed to be best friends."

"I know," Serena repeats.

"No, you don't! Because if you really knew what it meant then you wouldn't have ever left!" Blair cries.

"I'm so sorry, Blair. I was wrong. But I'm going to make it up to you. I swear."

"You can't just come back and expect everything to just pick up where you left off."

"I'm not trying to pick up where I left off. It's going to be better than that. I promise you."

"And how are you planning on doing that?" Blair scoffs. "You're not known for keeping your promises."

"This time is different. I'm different. Just give me a chance to talk."

Blair is conflicted. For the longest time all she wanted was for Serena to come back. If Serena was back, the world would make sense again. Nate wouldn't be weird anymore and her mother would become tolerable. The girls at school wouldn't dare disrespect her the way they had if she had Serena by her side. Life would be good so long as Serena comes back. That's what Blair had believed.

"You're right, Blair. We are best friends. Since we were in diapers! That has to count for something. Are you really going to throw all of that away without even giving me a chance?"

"She came to find you right away when she got back to New York," Nate supplies.

Blair turns to Chuck who merely shrugs his shoulders as if to say "It's all up to you."

"I'm back, B. I'm sorry for leaving, but I'm back. I was always going to come back. We're sisters."

Serena's long dark blonde eyelashes are damp with unshed tears, her eyes desperate, her lips quivering in a purely innocent and vulnerable way that one would not have expected to see on the bombshell vixen. It reminds Blair of that one time, when they were young and had watched from the top of the staircase how William Van der Woodsen had picked up his suitcase and walk out of the Van der Woodsen suite, never coming back. Serena was stubborn and refused to believe that her father would never come home. After a whole month of futile waiting on top of the staircase, she finally realized that dear old dad was gone for good. Serena had bawled her eyes out that night while Blair stroked her hair into the wee hours of the morning.

"Why won't he come back? Did I do something wrong?" she would sob.

"No," Blair would whisper reassuringly. "You've done nothing wrong. He's a jerk. That's all. You don't need him anyways. I'm here."

"You would never leave me like that would you?"

"Never," Blair promises.

"But what if your mom wants you to go home for dinner?" Serena points out.

"Then I'll just have to come back right away in the morning," Blair supplies without missing a beat.

"And then we'll have breakfast! With croissants!"

"And we'll watch Breakfast at Tiffany's!"

Serena makes a face, but nods enthusiastically nevertheless.

"We'll be together forever, right?"

"Yes, yes," Blair answers.

"I promise to stay with you forever, too, B. I'll never leave you. I'll always come back. Always. We're sisters."

"Yes, sisters," Blair agrees.

"Forgive me? Blair?" the grown up Serena pleads.

The two little girls in Blair's memory had sealed the deal with pink promises and then fell asleep in each other's arms, dreaming dreams of white castles and cotton candy clouds. Blair wants to return to those days.

"I… I-I really missed you, S," Blair manages to croak out. "Don't you dare leave again."

Serena's tears escape and run down her cheeks, but she doesn't bother to brush them away. She just knows that she's been offered a second chance, and she's going to take it.

xxx

Damon eavesdrops on the entire conversation between Blair and her old pals. If Katherine was the enigmatic figure in Damon's life then Serena Van der Woodsen would be Blair's. He's heard much of the golden haired vixen, but this was the first time he's actually seen the girl. Truth be told, he wasn't too impressed.

Yes, she was pretty with hair that seems to unnaturally glisten despite the fact that not a ray of sunshine could be found on this cloudy Virginian day. And yes, she really did have legs that went on for miles. But really, he couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

He knows her type. Serena is the 'It girl' who does whatever the hell she wants, gets whatever the hell she wants, and gets away with it because she has a winning smile. The thing about living forever is he knows how fleeting beauty can be (unless you're a vampire of course and then it gets old even faster). Time and age is the murderer of all that is beautiful and Serena Van der Woodsen will, too, know its wrath one day. You get tired of pretty faces and shallow minds. He hopes for her sake that there's something beneath all that blonde hair that would sustain her.

That is not to say that if he was given the opportunity Damon wouldn't try to sink those pearly whites of his into that tender sun-kissed skin. He is male after all, and pretty blondes make the best midnight snacks.

The thing that irks Damon the most about Serena, however, is not that annoyingly bright and shiny hair. It is her relationship with one Blair Waldorf. Damon had long attributed Serena's absence as the reason for that melancholic look Blair consistently wears underneath those coy smirks and smiles. Everything that Serena has done was forgivable because it was always to someone else. Blair was known to step on a few toes herself and she had always believed that those that got hurt were merely too weak, too insignificant to actually matter anyways. She never thought she would be counted among one of the victims of Serena's vanishing act. In Blair's eyes, Serena was the girl who could do no wrong (until she left that is). More than Nate Archibald, more than Chuck Bass, more than Eleanor Waldorf, Serena Van der Woodsen was the center of Blair's universe. She was the best friend who was more of a sister. They were partners in crime, the dynamic duo. They were rich, pretty and glamorous and they had each other. That was the important bit: the fact that they had each other, because all the money in the world, all the parties and designer labels and boys in the world wouldn't mean a thing otherwise. Without each other they were just another cliché poor rich girl sob story. But together? They made the impossible happen. They were in essence, soul mates if there was ever such a thing. And it is this fact that made Damon nervous.

Blair had told him to stay put and that she would handle it, but now with Serena, the wild card, thrown in the mix, Damon decides it's time to join the party. As if the driveway wasn't already getting crowded enough.

"Damon," Chuck growls underneath his breath at the older brunette's approach.

"Chuck. Nate. How are all of you doing?" Damon says with a mischievous smile. "And this is Serena I presume?"

"Yes… and you are?" Serena answers tentatively.

"He's a friend," Blair quickly supplies, shooting warning looks at him. Damon merely winks back.

As if the drama wasn't already at an all time high what with the prodigal BFF back in the picture, Stefan and Elena chose this exact moment to return from whatever little errand they went on and were driving up to the driveway. Damon was sure that Stefan won't be pleasantly surprised to find that the number of house guests at the Salvatore ancestral home have significantly increased.

"The name's Damon. Damon Salvatore. I'm the owner of this driveway," From the corner of his eye he sees Stefan, with Elena in tow, closing in on them and adds an amendment to his previous statement. "Well, co-owner. The broody guy in dire need of a hair cut who is approaching us is my brother, Stefan. He gets the other half of the driveway, but I have the side with the azaleas so I can't complain."

Serena laughs and both Blair and Chuck roll their eyes. From fifteen feet away Stefan can hear everything and would narrow his eyes even more if that were possible.

"Stefan! Come say hello!" Damon cockily calls out.

"Damon… who are all these people?" Stefan struggles to keep the exasperation and annoyance out of his voice.

"Why, our new house guests of course!"

"What?" Stefan, Elena and Blair all collectively exclaim.

"I thought you wanted me to get rid of them," Blair whispers vehemently.

"That's before when I thought only tweedle dee and tweedle dumb was here," Damon whispers back.

Blair should have known. Once Serena Van der Woodsen is in the picture, plans are often changed to accommodate the golden goddess.

"It's not like we don't have the room," Damon states aloud to the large party. "We have several guestrooms available."

"Damon, I need to talk to you." Stefan declares, attempting to pull Damon aside. "Excuse us."

"But I haven't even finished the introductions yet!"

"Damon."

Surprise, surprise. As always, Stefan is a total wet blanket about the whole thing.

"Alright, alright," Damon sighs. "I'll be right back, ladies," he adds with a wink. Chuck fumes at his retreating figure.

Stefan successfully draws him out of hearing range before launching into his tirade.

"What the hell are you doing? First Blair, now this? Are you trying to create your own army or something?" Stefan accuses.

"Huh! That's a clever idea. Wish I thought of that first."

Stefan answers with passive-aggressive accusatory silence.

"They're Blair's friends," Damon replies with a nonchalant shrug.

"Seriously, Damon. Every time you show up, it's just a parade of disaster and chaos and me cleaning up the mess of bodies you leave lying in your wake."

"Hey! I didn't even know they were coming. And I was just being a good Samaritan and offering them a place to stay. It's not like we don't have like a bazillion empty guestrooms."

"What is this? A hotel?"

"Would you rather I was killing people instead of sheltering them?" Damon replies in a fake flabbergasted voice.

Stefan just throws his hands up in the air, resigned to ride out the Damon tidal wave.

"How about next time you give me a little heads up at least?"

"What part of 'I didn't even know they were coming' did you not understand? I honestly did not know that Blair's whole entourage would follow her down here. I mean, come on. They're total rich prep school types and Mystic Falls isn't exactly Paris. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't have business to attend to."

"And are you ever going to share what exactly that business you are attending to with me?"

Damon merely smiles and waggles a finger teasingly at his younger brother.

"Nice try, little bro. But I want to keep it a surprise."

Basically Stefan is still as dumbfound as before and now he has more house guests to contend with.

"Hey, I get it. This is a lot of strangers in our home, but if it's any consolation… we can always get rid of the guys have ourselves a little harem," Damon jokes.

"Not. Funny."

Damon and Stefan soon make their way back to the party of five in time to catch some awkward small talk between Elena and the UES crowd. Relief instantly washed over Elena's facial expression as soon as she saw Stefan making his way back. Blair had not been exactly the best representative of what rich New Yorkers were like. Chuck was glad for the brothers' return too, but for a wholly different reason.

"Listen… thanks for your offer, but we actually booked a suite in the Hilton already-" Chuck begins.

"No! No, I'm here to see Blair and the hotel is like thirty minutes away," Serena whines.

"Yes, please stay. Damon was right, we do have a lot of empty rooms and you're welcome to them," Stefan invites politely.

Serena immediately jumps at the invitation.

"Really? Thank you so much," Serena gushes. "I'm sorry for causing trouble for you." Serena adds an angelic smile and a casual touch on Stefan's elbow to emphasize.

"N-No problem at all," Stefan stutters, feeling a bit light headed from the golden goddess's mere touch.

Elena zeros on the slight rosy hue on Stefan's pale cheeks and narrows her eyes at the blonde newcomer. She will later note this exchange in her diary with angry pen strokes.

"Stefan, sweetie," Elena emphasizes territorially. "Won't you drive me home?"

Stefan snaps out of his Serena daze and nods obediently at his girlfriend.

Blair has to give it to her, Elena is not a girl who would ever back down from a fight. In his defense, Stefan is not the first guy to blush and swoon in Serena's presence, nor would he be the last. Over the years of being the It Girl's BFF, Blair has seen many girls employ a variety of seductive or territorial techniques to combat against the Van der Woodsen charm. It makes it all the sadder when Serena takes their man all the same.

Damon rolls his eyes and smiles a smile that is more like a grimace when he notices Nate's quiet, but possessive gaze on the wrong girl.

Serena takes Blair's hand in hers and squeezes them affectionately. "This is so great, B. I have so much to talk to you about."

"Yeah… I'm… I'm glad you're back, S."

As the three new house guests get their belongings hauled up to the Salvatore mansion by Chuck's well paid driver, Blair catches Damon's arm and pulls him back behind the others.

"What are you planning?"

"I was thinking maybe a big make out session followed by heavy petting."

Blair smacks him in the arm.

"Quit messing around."

"Relax," he smiles reassuringly at her. "We're gonna have some fun. I was thinking that I could make Nate think he's a chicken for tonight's dinner entertainment. Get it? Nate, chicken, dinner… I eat people?" Damon jokes lamely.

She doesn't laugh and he admits it's not one of his best works.

"Don't you dare try any of that mind trick funny business with my friends," she hisses.

"You don't trust me?"

She wants to trust him. She might be the only person in the world insane enough to, but she thinks he needs someone campaigning on his side against all the Damon haters.

"…. Just don't, okay?"

"Oh, come on."

"Damon, promise me."

"You always become such a party pooper when they're around," Damon complains.

"Then why did you invite them to stay?" Blair counters with gritted teeth.

"Keep your friends close and my enemies closer," he replies.

"They're not your enemies."

"Not if they know what's good for them."

"Leave them alone and I'll try to get rid of them as quick as I can."

"I thought you were happy that Serena is back. Nate sure looks like he is. Couldn't help her with her bags fast enough."

"Nate was being a gentleman, unlike some people. And I am happy that Serena's back. It's just not good timing. Stop trying to twist everything."

She annoyed and he realizes he's going too far. Blair's little breakfast club are always a sore subject between them. He hates them, she loves them. There's always this anxious, insecure feeling he gets when they are in concern. That one day if the choice was down to between him and them, she'd pick them and he'd lose the one person who he could honestly say was on his side, for the first time.

"Alright, alright. I promise I won't touch them."

"… Well then… good," Blair states, surprised. That was a little too easy. "… I'm going to help them find their rooms now… See you at dinner?"

He nods in agreement and watches as she walks away.

Blair shows the Upper East Siders their rooms while Damon goes about doing his own thing downstairs. Serena gushes to Blair how much she misses her and how everything is going to be even better than before, while Nate remains as wooden as ever.

As usual, Chuck is the one that voices the most complaints, particularly about their new lodgings, but Blair catches him admiring the workmanship on the elaborate bed posts.

"I like a good sturdy bed," he smarms when she raises her eyebrows at him.

"No midnight visitors while you're on the premises," she warns.

"Does this mean I'm free to have visitors at other times during the evening?"

Serena chucks a pillow at him accompanied by a thoroughly disgusted "ew." Nate laughs and Blair rolls her eyes, hands on her hips. It's a familiar scenario that echoes their past dynamic. They catch each other's eyes and all smile as if they were all thinking the exact same thing. This was how things suppose to be. All that previous tension before evaporates. All the awkwardness and all the hurt doesn't sting quite as much anymore. They're Blair and Serena, Chuck and Nate. It's almost like they were back in New York and Blair breathes a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't known she was holding.

"Quit messing around. You guys finish unpacking and then come down for dinner," Blair calls over her shoulder as she descends the stairs, her steps a little lighter than before.

Happiness, however, is often short-lived.

Once Blair leaves, the remaining breakfast club returns to their respective guestrooms. Serena is busy unpacking her luggage when Nate comes in toting a small Louis Vuitton suitcase.

"I think this is yours. It must have gotten mixed with my things by accident."

A lie. Nate purposefully directed Chuck's handy driver to leave one of Serena's suitcases in his room. He needed an excuse to talk to Serena and Nate learned his pick up tricks from bad daytime soap operas.

"Oh, I was just going to look for that," Serena says with a smile. "Thank you, Nate."

"It's no problem."

"No, really. Not just for the suitcase, but for getting Chuck to bring us here. You don't know what it means to me."

"I'm just really glad you're back…" Nate pauses, unsure whether or not to go on, but he swallows and continues. "You know ever since that Shep-"

Serena realizes what he wants to talk about and stops him.

"Yes, I think that was a mistake, too! Blair's my friend and we were drunk."

"Y-Yeah… drunk."

"We shouldn't let stupid drunken mistakes mar our friendships. We've all grown up since then and you and Blair, you guys are the golden couple. So, let's just forget it ever happened. The past is the past. There's nothing going on between the two of us and you wouldn't want to hurt Blair, right?"

"No…"

"I mean you've guys have been together forever. She loves you and I know you love her. We would only hurt her if we told her. So let's just keep this our little secret. Okay?"

Serena has a talent for making others agree with her. Nate is no different from any other poor bloke wrapped around Serena's little finger. The bumbling boy merely nods his head and agrees.

"Yeah..."

"Thanks again for being so wonderful, Nate."

She kisses him chastely on the cheek, flashes him the famous Van der Woodsen smile and goes back to unpacking her bags, effectively dismissing him from conducting further conversation.

xxx

Dinner was full of awkward silences and glares being thrown across the table courtesy of one Chuck Bass and one Damon Salvatore. Serena monopolizes the conversation most of the evening, talking about boarding school and how horrible it was and how she just misses everyone so much. After dinner everyone retires to the living room where Serena challenges Stefan to a game of pool. Blair smiles indulgently and watches from the sidelines with Damon while Chuck and Nate wonders off to a corner to indulge in the Salvatore's impressive scotch collection.

Serena is drunk off appletinis within half an hour into the pool game, giggling and casually touching Stefan on the shoulders and chest. Blair rolls her eyes at her best friend's antics and just thank god that Stefan had taken Elena home earlier otherwise there would be a massive cat fight going on. She turns to look at Damon and catches him with the most amused look on his face and realizes that he was probably thinking the same thing; except he's probably more regretful than anything that Elena hadn't stayed and was probably currently reenacting the hypothetical cat fight scene (with pudding) in his head.

He turns to look at her and smiles mischievously.

"Don't look at me like that. I refuse to allow you to put me in one of your mental porn shows."

"But you'll be the main star."

Blair raises her hand to smack him, but he catches her hand halfway and lays it back on her lap.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you're going to smack me every time I say something snarky."

She narrows her eyes and bites down the juvenile urge to stick out her tongue at him. Despite the show of annoyance, she's touched at his subtle signs of concern. He hasn't taken his hand away yet and she feels it there, a cold weight on the back of her right hand. She looks up at him when ten seconds later he still hasn't removed it. Damon looks back at her and she flit her gaze over onto Nate and he gets the hint and drops his offending hand. She still feels the cold from where his hand had been and misses it almost instantly, but if anyone ever asks she'll deny, deny, deny.

Across the room, Nate gulps down his drink as he watches Serena flirt with Stefan Salvatore over yet another game of pool. Chuck is disgusted with the evening and is tired of the company of his sulky best friend. When Nate pours himself his fourth drink, Chuck pulls his glass away.

"Hey!"

"I think you've had enough."

"Since when did you join AA?" Nate sneers as he tries to swipe back his drink.

"Since when did you forget who your girlfriend is?"

Nate successfully takes back his poison of choice and begins taking large swigs of the drink instead of answering.

"Serena never should have come back," Chuck mutters.

"How can you say that? She's our friend!" Nate whispers harshly.

"Yeah? And what is Blair? Because last time I checked, she's the one you should be worried about and instead all I see you do is mope around because Serena's doing her usual thing, flirting with everything in pants which is to say everyone. Your girlfriend gets up and goes off with some guy to Mystic freaking Falls in the middle of midterms and you don't even notice."

"Since when do you care? You're the one who's always telling me to tap more asses and parading about your hookers."

"I'm Chuck Bass, it's what I do. And I knew you were never going to cheat. Not on Blair. So don't start."

"It's a little too late for a pep talk."

"What do you saying?"

"Nothing. Never mind," Nate sighs and returns to his drink, slopping expensive alcohol all over the table and not caring.

From his seat next to Blair, Damon silently eavesdrops on the two city boys' conversation from across the room.

Serena accidentally spills her drink on her dress and excuses herself, between giggles, to go clean herself off. She stumbles over a rug, but Blair's there to steady her.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine. You worry too much, B!"

Serena takes another step and stumbles again, this time Damon's there to hold her up.

"I'll help her find the restroom," Damon offers.

"I'll go," Stefan volunteers.

"Nah, it's your turn to shoot and I think Elena might be expecting a call soon."

Stefan is reminded belatedly of his daily evening ritual and scurries off to call his irritated girlfriend.

"Yes! Elena! She should come over and hang with us!" Serena sing-songs.

"If only…" Damon sighs.

"No funny business, Salvatore," Blair warns. "Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?" she asks Serena, gently tucking the other girl's hair back away from her face.

"I just need to wash up a little, B."

Blair nods and Serena follows after Damon.

In the expansive Salvatore bathroom Serena scrubs futilely at the stain on her silk blouse. With a sigh, she gives up and after splashing her face with some water she's ready to go back out there. As she emerges from the bathroom, she finds Damon waiting for her in the hallway outside.

"Oh, you waited for me?"

"You are my guest after all. And you're Blair's best friend which makes you VIP," he replies charmingly.

"You care about Blair a lot don't you?"

"Yes," he admits. "Yes, I do."

Somehow, Serena finds the way Damon Salvatore talks to be highly disconcerting. His words sounding awfully a lot like a threat despite the good-natured words.

"You know… Blair told me a lot about you."

"Did she? Good things I hope," Serena says sweetly.

Damon smiles back at her, a dark glint in his eye.

"Oh, just the best."

"You know, we've been best friends since like… forever. I really missed her when I was gone."

"Really? Why did you leave then?"

Pain flashes in Serena's eyes for a millisecond before she regains her angelic composure.

"Things just happen sometimes, you know?"

"Yes… things do just happen sometimes. Like say… car accidents or houses catching on fire," Damon goads.

Serena swallows nervously and fiddles with the decorative tassle on a cushion on a nearby seat.

"Yeah. Um, so do you know where Chuck and Nate is?" She tries to change the subject.

"Do you need Nate for something?"

"Well, either of them, really. I just…" Serena trails off. "I should go back to Blair and Stefan. There's still a game of pool to finish," she rambles.

Serena turns around, ready to scurry away, but Damon doesn't let her off that easily. He snatches her arm before she's out of his reach and with a violent yank pulls her back.

"Ow, you're hurting me."

"I want you to stay away from Blair," he growls.

"W-what are you talking about? She's my best friend-"

"Oh really? Is Nate one of your best friends too? Do you sleep with all your friends, Serena?"

"W-What… How?"

"Oh come on. The guy's pathetically in love with you. He's like a dog waiting to be petted or thrown some scraps from the dinner table. I mean I get it. You're a pretty girl, he's a guy. We're really quite simple creatures when you get down to it. What I don't get is your definition of best friend, seeing as Nate is Blair's boyfriend."

"It's not like that. It just happened!"

"Does the sweet victimized thing usually work for you?"

"You don't know anything. What happened with Nate… it was an accident. Things just happened."

Serena is like a broken record and Damon is sick of playing nice.

"And things like this just always happen to you don't they? Like when you got the lead in the school play back in 8th grade even though Blair wanted it and you were suppose to be helping her practice for the audition. Or how about the million of times you let Eleanor prance you around as a model for her pieces and watched from the sidelines as she criticizes every little invisible crack in Blair's perfect little mask? Truly, you guys have a wonderful history together. You're the picture perfect best friend aren't you?"

"How do you know all this?" Serena rasps.

"Blair tends to ramble when she has one too many martinis."

"I don't do any of it on purpose. I don't mean to hurt her!"

"I don't care what you mean to do. I want you to leave and not come back this time."

"I'm not leaving," Serena declares. "I don't know who you think you are, but do you really think Blair would ever pick you over me?"

When backed into a corner, the sweet girl-next-door reveals her claws and she has good aim. Damon is usually confident, but Serena has hit a little too close to home and he falters a little. Serena notices the internal flinch, and smiles a smile that he has often seen Katherine wear when she realizes she has the upper hand.

"You have feelings for Blair don't you?" she baits. When he doesn't answer she laughs. "I'm sorry to break it to you, Damon, but Blair is not the type to fall for bad boys in motorcycle jackets. Maybe she's taken a liking to you, you are easy on the eyes, but let me tell you something. Blair Waldorf does not end up with guys like you. She ends up with guys like Nate."

He could easily kill her in an instant. Plunge his hand into her chest and rip out her beating heart. He wants to, badly. If Stefan was here he would admire Damon for his restraint.

"And how is this supposed to convince me to not reveal your little indiscretion with Nate again?"

"It doesn't matter what you say to her. I've known Blair for years, and you've known her what? A month? Two? She won't believe you. Not over us." Serena states cruelly. "I love Blair. More than you ever could. You might be right about me and Nate, but I assure you. That was a mistake and I'm going to fix it now."

"History has shown that you have a tendency to repeat your mistakes."

"This time it's different."

"If you actually care about her at all, you'd leave."

Serena looks him right in the eye. "I care about her and that's why I'm not leaving. If you cared about her, then you'd know to keep your mouth shut."

She shakes off his grip on her arm and vanishes through the door in a billow of flaxen hair without another word. Damon quickly realizes that he has underestimated the blonde. Serena Van der Woodsen was a force to be reckoned with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Dude, Serena was the most difficult character to write ever. I wanted a balance of the Serena-Blair friendship dynamic as well as Bad Serena who, while she loves Blair, is also very selfish and capable of causing a lot of chaos. I wanted a bit more Elena jealousy action happening, but the story was getting way too long and off course of the original plot. Hopefully next chapter I can get in some more tomb action. Overall, I hope you guys enjoyed this update. Thank you so much for the reviews and comments. =)


	10. Chapter 10

Serena and Blair spend the rest of the night reliving old memories, sharing past heartbreaks (including the ones involving each other) and fantasizing about new beginnings.

"Things will change now," Serena promises for the umpteenth time.

Maybe if she says it enough times it would come true. Or maybe she thinks she could fool herself into believing it. Blair smiles sleepily back at her from her corner of the large king sized bed. Her friend's reassurance makes those fantasies seem closer to reality. They can get through this, they're Serena and Blair.

Serena reaches over to take her hand into hers, squeezing it affectionately. They both fell asleep that night believing that their friendship could overcome anything. An invincibility of sorts that would get them through all the hardships that life had to offer.

Their habit of talking into the wee hours of the morning makes it difficult for Blair to stow away with Damon in the middle of the night to meet up with Emily. Damon says he could easily compel Serena and the rest of the gang, but Blair is not having any of it.

It's been two whole days after the Serena confrontation and thus far Damon has kept his mouth shut. Serena continues to casually flirt with Stefan, riling up Elena, and Nate continues to pine after the blonde goddess whilst sharing butterfly kisses with Blair at the breakfast table.

"I'm sorry I left without saying anything."

"It doesn't matter. We're together now."

"I'm glad you're here," Blair whispers, although there's a trace of doubt in her voice that Damon manages to catch.

"I'm glad to be here," Nate returns, the famous Archibald smile that make girls weak at the knees employed to the fullest.

It's a nauseating sight that would make Damon lose his appetite if only he had any.

Chuck Bass is surprising the best of the house guests and spends most of his days out of the Salvatore Mansion and in town indulging in various debaucheries with the townies. Damon has a passing thought about how Chuck Bass and he could have been friends, but quickly dismisses the thought on account that they hated each other's guts.

The longer the breakfast club stays at the Salvatore Mansion, the more restless Damon gets. Elena, too, was not fond of the idea of the buxom blonde sleeping under the same roof as her boyfriend for an extended period of time.

"Aren't you going to get rid of them yet?" Elena confronts Damon one day.

"I'm working on it," he snaps back.

Elena lets it go because she has other things to worry about, particularly one witchy friend who has been suffering various blackouts as of late and refusing to talk to her.

xxx

Bonnie is not unfamiliar with these feelings of disorientation and vivid dreams. They are her constant nightly companions and the last time such a feeling was so strong was when Emily had possessed her. She doesn't tell a thing to Elena though for fear that girl would worry as she is prone to do. She keeps thinking that the feeling would pass, but it doesn't.

It gets harder every day as her headaches increase and she starts having waking visions of a forest, a pretty brunette girl and Damon Salvatore, whom she has avoided since the last time he had tried to kill her.

One time she wakes up in her bed to find that her feet were covered in dirt and her sheets littered with bits of foliage. She had quickly replaced the sheets and showered for a good long hour after to wash away signs of dirt and the odd smell of smoke that clung to her hair. She tells no one, because if no one knows, maybe it's not real.

Giving Elena a ride to Stefan's house one day, she spots the brunette girl in her dreams through the living room window. She chalks it up to her eyes messing with her due to her lack of sleep. Later that afternoon she finds Emily's amulet in her drawer buried under her t-shirts. The amulet that was supposedly destroyed, the very same amulet that allowed Emily to possess her the first time around. She is no fool and quickly realizes the implications of the reemerged amulet. It's her worst nightmare.

Emily is back and inside of her.

Bonnie has never been so afraid to look into the mirror, but she does. She almost expects to see Emily standing there in place of her own reflection, but she doesn't. It's just her, good old Bonnie Bennett staring back at her.

She breathes a sigh of relief only to turn around and face the apparition of Emily sitting on her bed. She lets out a scream she backs up violently and smacks into her dresser, knocking various objects onto the floor.

"Please, calm down," Emily says.

The last thing Bonnie wants to do is calm down. She wants to freak out and smash objects, preferably on Emily. She's not a fan of violence, but if that's what it'll take for the centuries old witch to leave her alone she'll do it. Despite the urges to throw various heavy objects at the apparition on her bed, she doubts anything would make physical contact and she would probably have to clean up afterwards. That is if she's not dead by then. Or worse, under Emily's control.

"Get the hell away from me! Dad! Mom!"

She suddenly remembers that both of them are working late tonight and neither is at home to hear her screams.

"I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want to talk," Emily coaxes.

"You- you possessed me!"

"It was the only way I could have made contact with the living. You're the only viable vessel."

"And that makes it right!"

"I'm sorry for startling you, but you must listen to me," Emily demands, standing up.

Bonnie grabs the silver hairbrush that was lying askew on her dresser and brandishes it like a sword.

"Don't come any closer!"

Emily doesn't. The spirits are not fond of silver, as Bonnie learned from Grams.

"What have you been making me do? That forest clearing in front of the tomb, that- that girl I saw in Stefan's house, Damon Salvatore! That was all real wasn't it?"

"Yes," Emily answers.

"What are you planning? What are you trying to do?"

"To save you. To save our family."

"What?"

"There's something you need to know about the Bennett witches."

"And what's that?"

"We're cursed."

xxx

Damon is not often surprised, so when the Bennett witch shows up on his doorstep, he's taken back.

"Damon."

"Um…" he doesn't know how to greet her. Is she Bonnie looking for Stefan and Elena or is this Emily he's talking to?

"It's Bonnie." She says in reply to his ever witty 'um' as if she read his mind. He doesn't doubt that she probably could if she wanted to. "Aren't you going to invite me in?" she says with a smirk knowing full well about vampires and their little requirement to enter one's house.

Damon doesn't know what's going on, but he's not sure he likes it. Blair and her posse are out shopping today with Stefan and Elena, so only he is left to entertain the young witch.

"Make yourself at home," he says with a smile that doesn't match his eyes.

Emily and he might have a deal, but Bonnie is a whole different matter. It's just a bit confusing since they're both sharing the same body.

"Can I get you a drink?" he offers.

"I'm good, thanks." Despite what Emily told her about their alliance with Damon, Bonnie wouldn't trust Damon not to try to poison her drink. If only to see her sputter and choke for entertainment.

The witch sits herself down, crossing her legs at the ankles and looking around at the Salvatore house. It's her first time actually seeing the inside and she realizes Elena wasn't exaggerating how big it really was, nor how gothic. It sends shivers down her spine. The stuffed raven on the mantle even looks alive, ready to fly towards her and scratch out her eyes at any given moment.

"So… to what do I owe this pleasantly surprising visit?" Damon oozes charm despite the dangerous glint in his eyes.

"I know about your deal with Emily."

"Do you now?"

"She's told me everything."

"Before I reveal my diabolical plans in your confidence, what exactly does 'everything' entail?"

"Your second attempt at opening the tomb, the Immune girl helping you do it and the curse Katherine has on my witch family. And Emily has agreed to help you if you helped her remove the curse. Did I leave anything out?"

"No, no. I think that's pretty much all of it. But let me guess, you don't approve and you're planning on telling Stefan and Elena or something along those lines?"

Damon will not let that happen.

"No," the teenage witch replies.

"No?"

"I want to get rid of the curse Katherine put on my family as much as Emily does."

"Alright… then you just came here to do what exactly? Give me your blessings?" Damon mocks.

"Not so fast. I want to meet the girl. The Immune."

Damon narrows his eyes at the request.

"And why would you want to do that?"

"She's the key component of this whole plan. I'd like to know who exactly I'm dealing with."

"Well let me just go grab her appointment book and pencil you in," he snarks.

"I'll be at Mystic Grill tonight at seven," she says calmly in reply as she gets up and gathers her things. "Tell her I'll be sitting at the booth in the corner."

Damon follows her to the door where Bonnie pauses across the threshold.

"Oh yeah and one more thing." Without another word, Bonnie uses her telekinetic power to shove Damon into a nearby bookcase. "That's for the last time you tried to kill me."

She marches away to her car without looking back.

xxx

Blair arrives at the agreed upon local bar and grill with Damon trailing behind her.

"I don't trust her."

"You don't trust anyone," Blair points out. "You all have trust issues and that's part of the problem. Let me handle this."

It's not entirely true; he trusts her after all. It's a funny thing, their friendship. It has taken on a mind of its own, developed in ways he hadn't originally planned nor expected. He doesn't mind it.

"It's hard to trust somebody that shoved you into a bookcase," he replies rubbing his sore back dramatically.

Blair rolls her eyes at his continual antics. "I bet you barely felt it."

"It was the principal of the matter! It's like stabbing someone in the back! I wasn't prepared!"

"Maybe you should go home and let me do this on my own."

"No, I want to be here."

"Fine," Blair sighs.

"I'll be over there if you need me."

Blair nods and walks confidently to the girl who wasn't Emily sitting in the corner. The non-Emily smiles at her cautiously and motions for her to sit.

"Hi," she says.

"Hello," Blair returns.

The waiter comes over to take their order, interrupting any further conversation. The animated boy goes on to rattle off a number of specials to which both girls decline.

"Just an iced tea please," Blair says with a sweet smile that is barely restraining her impatience, but nevertheless manages to make the waiter blush.

Bonnie merely asks for water and they're left in awkward silence once the waiter leaves. It's been at least five minutes and non-Emily has yet to say a word besides staring at her strangely and she's starting to feel nervous.

"You asked me here, so what do you want?" Blair sighs with irritation.

Bonnie blinks and breaks her strange gaze.

"I can't read you at all. I mean I can't read vampires clearly. It's mostly just random images with them and a lot of white noise, but still. You're… just blank. It's really true."

"Of course it's true," Blair scoffs. "So what was this? Just a test?"

"Damon is not exactly the model of honesty and good will. And I wouldn't trust Emily as far as I could throw her. People lie all the time."

"About their real hair color? Age? Maybe… But being damned to live in eternal torment in a spectral form, lying in wait to serve some spoilt, psychotic vampire bitch isn't something people usually care to lie about."

"And what about you? What exactly is it that you're getting out of all this? Emily says you're a friend of Damon, but out of the entire story, that's the most unbelievable part."

"This whole We-Hate-Damon campaign is getting really old. Elena has already filled me in on all of Damon's nasty habits."

"And you're okay with that?"

Blair shrugs. "People are flawed. Damon is especially so. I mean, look at what he's wearing, John Varvatos t-shirts or not. The whole Grease look has been overdone."

Bonnie can't help but snort in laughter at Blair's comment. Bonnie could take a liking to this girl.

"But if anything, you guys should know that he would do anything to get into that tomb."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Believe me. My reason is just as self-serving as Damon's. There's something I want him to do for me and if I help him get into the tomb, he owes me a favor," she answers easily. "There are a lot of things one would do in the name of love."

Damon catches Blair's last sentence and it makes him uneasy even though he doesn't know why. To exactly what extent does love excuse you for your actions?

"Alright… I believe you. And I don't really care whether or not Damon gets back Katherine or whatever, but what about the other vampires in the tomb? This is my town. I can't have people I care about get hurt. Even if Damon promised to protect me and my family, what about the others? What about Elena and Stefan? What are you guys planning on telling them?"

"It's be ages since those vampires were stuck in there. They're not exactly in fighting shape. I'm pretty sure Damon can handle it. Besides, Emily has a wicked fire spell in her arsenal if worse comes to worse. Believe me, I would know," Blair answers dismissively.

Bonnie isn't quite convinced yet.

"As for Elena and Stefan, they're a bunch of worrywarts so let's just keep this between us. It's just a simple recovery mission," Blair reassures.

Bonnie doesn't quite believe that this little mission of theirs was as simple as Blair says it is.

"Look, as long as we all hold up our ends of the deal, it should all be like clockwork. The only reason the last time everything went to hell was because you were all so busy backstabbing and hating each other. We're all going to get what we want, so let's just be civil to one another. Okay?"

Bonnie wonders to herself if all the girls in New York were quite so self-assured and proud at the same time. She's equal parts compelling and condescending.

"Fine. But, I want to be made aware of what's going on."

"I'll be sure to write up a full report for you."

"Just the cliffnotes would be fine, thanks"

Blair smiles at the strange parallels and contrasts between Bonnie Bennett and her ancestor.

xxx

Damon gets up from his seat at the bar as she approaches him.

"All settled," Blair states.

"I know."

"Eavesdropping much? I told you I was going to handle it."

"I know that. Doesn't mean I was not curious."

"I told her about the meeting with Emily tomorrow night."

Damon nods in reply.

"We better get back. I told Nate I was only going for an hour."

"Yes. We wouldn't want Nate to worry," Damon says sarcastically.

Blair looks back at Bonnie and smiles, she rather like the Bennett witches. They have sass, enough to throw Damon against a book shelf and come out the other end unscathed anyways. Bonnie sees her and smiles back, but then her eyes meet Damon's and her expression rapidly changes to a glower.

"Um, why don't you get back to the car? I want to say something to our witchy partner," Damon says to Blair while cockily waving to Bonnie in spite of her death glares.

"What? Don't mess things up with your usual antagonism and need for ego stroking."

"Don't worry about it!" he reassures her.

She sighs and leaves before the chaos ensues.

xxx

Bonnie sees Blair exit the restaurant and thinks to herself things went much more smoothly than she had anticipated. The girl reminded her a bit of Caroline and the idea of a friendship doesn't seem so farfetched. They have to work together after all, might as well enjoy it the best they can.

Such pleasant thoughts are interrupted when she sees Damon walking up to her.

"What do you want?" Bonnie bites out with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.

"Despite Blair's jaded, worldly front, she's a lot more naïve than you'd think. She seems to trust you and your witch kind, but don't forget that it was Emily who betrayed me first. I just wanted to make sure that you know that if you do anything to jeopardize this and/or get Blair hurt in anyway… I assure you, the next time I try to kill you, I'll succeed."

Bonnie is a little surprised at the show of care and protectiveness, disregarding the bit about homicide, Damon was capable of. He had always seemed inhuman, distant and cold, it was easy to hate him and categorize him as a monster this way. He has always been single minded in his search for Katherine and only Katherine, but to think Damon could ever let in somebody else into that exclusive circle. That was a bit mind-blowing.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"You better not."

xxx

The second layer of the spell on the tomb is broken with the usual fireworks and chanting. It's a little unnerving how close to the fruition of their little mission they really were. All they had to do was wait for the next full moon and they would be set.

Bonnie had acquired a sort of conscious state whilst Emily borrowed her body and so the use of cliffnotes was not needed. Blair asks her if it's as disorientating as she would imagine and Bonnie can only describe it as the feeling you have watching a movie about somebody else, except they have your face. The two girls and one ghost had formed a sort of tentative friendship that came from necessity. Although Damon was skeptical of Bonnie's awareness of their little operation, he soon realized that the teen witch planned to uphold her end of the bargain. In fact, Damon would like to believe the witches were a more honest bunch than Blair's Upper East Side pals who continued to play an elaborate game of charades.

xxx

Blair is not ignorant of Nate's rather obvious stares at Serena, but it's not enough for her to say anything. She's use to people oogling her best friend and has come to terms that while Nate might think Serena is attractive, he's with her and that's what matters. Boys will be boys and she'll allow the small trespass so longs as she's the one that ends up with the boy at the end. Her dreams for the future dictate it.

Nate is the perfect boyfriend. On paper anyways. He's captain of the lacrosse team, handsome, from a prominent family and with a hefty trust fund in his name. They've been together forever and she wouldn't know how to be with somebody else. There's only one way, in her mind, that this could end. And it ends with wedding bells.

But sometimes she starts to rethink that condition she gave Damon in exchange for her participation with the plan for the tomb's opening. Maybe she shouldn't hang on to someone who doesn't love her and only her. She should have more self respect than that shouldn't she? But then Nate smiles at her and it reminds her of that day in first grade when he had brought her dandelions he picked in the school yard. The flowers were of inferior quality, but that smile was the same crooked, ever so endearing smile. And in those moments, she thinks: He loves me. He loves me.

He loves me and it's all worth it.

She tells herself that Nate just needs that extra push, remove those shiny distractions, and soon they would be well on their way to their very own Happily Ever After. Their plan has always been to get married in an extravagant wedding ceremony and have little children running in the hotel lobby of their penthouse. He would say something if that's not what he wanted too, right? Blair always did have a hard time letting go of those precious plans of hers. Fantastical dreams aside, she just wants to believe in a love that truly lasts forever, even if she says she doesn't.

They can make it, the two of them. She's sure of it.

Damon is of another opinion entirely.

xxx

He realizes what he is about to do is betraying Blair's trust, but Damon is a firm believer of the ends justifies the mean. So, he goes on to walk that extra ten feet towards the Bennetts' door and knock. Bonnie answers it and is surprised to see him visiting her in the daytime.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Damon smirks, remember the witch's earlier jibe.

"No," Bonnie answers, crossing her arms across her chest in a defensive manner. Relations with Damon Salvatore remain a tricky business at best, even if they are allies.

"We can't just stand outside your door talking about this stuff," he points out.

"My parents are home. We can talk on the porch."

Damon relents and Bonnie takes a step outside, shutting the door behind her. Damon perches himself on the porch railing while Bonnie situates herself on the swing seat. If you told Bonnie Bennett a few months ago that she would be sitting in the porch with Damon Salvatore and they were not trying to kill each other, she would have laughed in your face.

"I need you to do me a favor," Damon begins.

She's not surprised. Damon wouldn't usually come to her unless it had to do with business.

"I've already agreed to open the tomb, what more do you want?" Bonnie sighs.

"This doesn't have anything to do with the tomb. It's… a little side project."

Bonnie quirks an eyebrow and he knows her interest has been piqued.

"As you know Blair's friends have been staying with us lately."

Bonnie has had the privilege to be acquainted with one Chuck Bass and she can't say she's impressed. Nate and Serena seemed friendly enough, if not a bit dense and shallow.

"Yeah, so?" Bonnie presses.

"I don't trust them."

"You're just way too protective," Bonnie replies dismissively.

"I happen to know for a fact that they're not as nice as they would seem."

"Nice or not, I don't think Blair would appreciate your meddling."

"I don't think Blair would appreciate getting cheated on."

"Nate's cheating on Blair?" Bonnie asks, surprised. If anything Blair Waldorf and Nate Archibald looked like one of those perfect couples in romance movies. They looked to be a happy, handsome couple, but it turns out looks can be deceiving. Bonnie should've known. Nate is Chuck Bass's BFF for a reason.

"I won't get into the details, but yes. Nate Archibald needs to be exposed. Usually I would compel him to confess, but Blair made me promise to not compel any of them. So, I want you to cast a truth spell on him for me."

"What do I get out of this?"

"Must you always demand something in return? I thought you were supposed to be one of those good witches who champions against wrong doing."

"As if you wouldn't do the same in my shoes," Bonnie retorts. "Besides, if I'm going to risk Blair's aftermath, I better get something out of it."

"Fine, what do you want?" Damon sighs.

The corner's of Bonnie's mouth quirks up and Damon regrets asking.

"Halloween's coming up. I want you to dress up like Dracula."

He blinks at her for several seconds before he answers. "Seriously?"

"Yes. With the plastic fangs, white makeup, fake blood, the works. Oh and a red cape, that would be good. The more ridiculous the better."

"You could have asked for anything and you want this?" he asks skeptically.

Bonnie merely shrugs her shoulders. "It's just a truth spell. I could do them in my sleep and it's not like you're asking me to kill him or anything. Your humiliation, however, is worth its weight in gold. Consider payback for those snide remarks about my witch costume last year."

"Then I can trust you to do this?"

"Consider it already done… so long as you hold up your end of the bargain."

It seems like a majority of their interaction is through a bargain or another.

"I'll do it." Damon smiles and get up from his seat. "Well then! This has turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant visit. It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

"Likewise," the witch quips. She looks forward to the end of the month.

As Damon reaches his car, he turns around and adds, "Oh yeah, I think this goes without saying, but keep this a secret from Blair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A bit of jumping the shark with the whole Halloween ordeal, but please just ignore the ridiculousness for the sake of the story, as impossible as it may seem to be. Also I realize the timeline of the story might be a bit confusing so here's the breakdown for those of you who care:
> 
> After Damon's plan to open the tomb failed the first time because of Emily (TVD: 1x09, History Repeating), he left Mystic Falls and left for New York for a while, where he met Blair (Pre-pilot). I'm going to say the time period when he and Blair met and were together in New York were from June/July- September. During early October they left for Mystic Falls. Which leads to the current timeline being somewhere near the middle-end of October and Halloween. As for school, Blair's still on her extended (emphasis on the extended) break to look at colleges. Nate and Chuck pretty much just ditch whenever they want anyways and Serena just came home from boarding school. On the other hand, Stefan and Elena continue to go to school which explains their absence in the majority of the scenes. I hope that sounds plausible enough. _ Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

Life has been good lately, which could only mean that it was about to go downhill from here on out. What goes up must come down. It's the law of physics (and life). Blair is often pragmatic that way. And yet, she can't help herself but wake up in the morning, look out the window to the beautiful autumn Virginian scenery and smile. Everything has been so perfect that she doesn't even mind the muddy treks through the forest at night and the total lack of Tiffany's or Bergdorf's in Mystic Falls.

There's no mean girls here, no fighting over spots on the Met steps, no Gossip Girl. She never thought she would find such happiness in a middle-of-nowhere town like this, but there it was. A feeling of contentment that had never before lasted so long fills her chest. She's walking on sunshine and nothing will bring her down.

Like most heroes in a tragedy, she ignores her better judgment and looks forward to another day.

xxx

Serena and Blair have been nearly inseparable. It's reminiscent of their childhood days when they had alternated living in each other's rooms every other week. You'd think they'd run out of things to say to each other by now, but they don't.

Today the conversation is about purple nail polishes and what would they do if aliens suddenly invaded Earth. Blair is practical. She thinks the color purple only belong on guys in dinosaur costumes (just French manicures for her please). As for the alien invasion, she recites Darwin's law of survival of the fittest. Serena is more fanciful. She thinks purple is a nice romantic color and that they should try and befriend the aliens, so long as they aren't gross looking. It goes without saying that there is much giggling involved.

Nate and Chuck are having breakfast at the table across the room, far enough to not be able to decipher the girly chatter, but close enough for the sound to reach them.

"You need to stop," Chuck states without looking up from his newspaper.

"Stop what?" Nate feigns ignorance.

"Those lovesick puppy dog eyes of yours. This is not going to end well."

Nate continues to watch Serena and Blair over by the kitchen island, laughing about something or other.

"You don't know what you're talking about man."

"I know that it's not going to go anywhere. You're wasting your time. I'm telling you, it's never going to work out."

Nate just back out of the room with a careless shrug and a brash smile.

"Don't worry about it."

Famous last words.

xxx

Bonnie had delivered her promise in the form of a small pouch filled with some miscellaneous occult things like eye of newt and a dead man's toe. At least that's what Damon thinks. She tells him he just needs to slip the little charm into Nate's pocket and say a short incantation to activate and it should work. The spell was made specifically for Nathaniel Archibald, so it won't work with anyone else, and it would wear off after twenty-four hours. Damon nods grimly and takes his ill-intentioned charm from the witch. He'll be rid of Serena and her bunch soon enough.

"I hope you know what you are doing," Bonnie warns.

"I do," Damon replies cockily.

Despite his casual response, it does dawn on Damon that as much as Blair deserves the truth, she won't necessarily like it.

"It'll be okay," he assures Bonnie. The witch thinks the assurance is more for his benefit than hers.

Slipping the little charm into Nathaniel's pocket is almost too easy. A simple bump in the hallway as the blonde was heading out of the kitchen, plus a little agility and slyness on his part and the task was done.

"Oh, sorry dude. Didn't see you there," Nate apologizes, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Dude, really? What is he? A Californian surfer? Seriously? Needless to say Damon won't be missing the asinine pretty boy.

"No worries, dude," Damon mocks.

Too bad the insult went right over Nate's head. The poor guy just looks back at him with a silly confused smile. Damon sighs. It's no fun mocking Nate when he doesn't even understand that he's being mocked.

"Is Blair in the kitchen?" He needs to find someone of higher intelligence to play with.

"Yeah. Go on in."

Blair sees him entering and brightens up, momentarily removing herself from Serena. The blonde's face immediately falls as the brunette takes her leave. Away from Blair's view, Serena sends threatening glares at the elder Salvatore brother. He smiles back knowing full well that by this time tomorrow Serena wouldn't be around to glare at him anymore.

"Hey! Where were you this morning?" Blair asks.

She looks radiant today. Happier than he's ever seen her and this only serves to make him feel guilty.

"I just went out to get my own… breakfast. You know I have a strict kosher diet."

Blair smiles indulgently at his bad taste in jokes.

"It's a nice day today. I was thinking we could all go out?"

"Anything you want," he replies easily.

Chuck sighs and puts down his newspaper. He can't concentrate at all today with all these distractions and quickly excuses himself to "go hurl." Damon doesn't miss him.

"What's wrong with you? You're a little too nice today," she asks suspiciously. "Was your breakfast that good this morning?"

"Nobody that could ever compare to you," he replies flirtatiously, placing a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Don't be so conniving this early in the morning, Salvatore. I haven't had nearly enough coffee to even imagine what you're up to."

He chuckles and lets her hand drop.

"I was thinking of maybe a picnic? By the meadows near the east side of the forest? Serena and I passed it the other day and she thought it looked like a nice place to have one."

Damon's eye twitch at the mention of Serena (the last thing he wants to do is cater to her whims), but he maintains his smile nevertheless.

"Sure."

"Alright. I guess we'll leave around one? I'm going to go with Serena into town first to find something nice to wear, although I doubt we'd find anything. This town is sorely lacking in the fashion department."

As if she doesn't already have a million and one dresses.

xxx

Two hours at the Mystic Falls Mall and not a single shopping bag to put between them. Such a travesty would usually result in a petulant, irritated Blair, but today nothing seems to be able to dampen her mood. Blair leaves to freshen up in the bathroom while Serena goes back to her guestroom.

She finds Nate pacing about when she opens the door.

"Nate, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

Nate had tried to bring up the subject of a certain wedding several times before and Serena had always managed to sidestep him. He had just about give up and resign himself to watching from afar, but ever since this morning there had been an urge to tell Serena exactly how he felt. Serena, however, was having none of it.

"I can't do this right now, Nate," she sighs, rubbing her face with the palms of her hands.

But Nate doesn't seem to be able to take the hint. He's convinced that he must tell her, today, that he loves her.

"Serena, I know you don't care what I mean to say. But, I have to tell you."

"Nate…" Serena whines. She just doesn't want to deal with besotted Nathaniel right now. He could very well destroy all of her efforts to reconcile with Blair.

"I love you, Serena."

He said it. She doesn't look at all surprised and merely shakes her head sadly at him.

"I love you and I've thought about it for a really long time now. That day at the Sheperd's wedding was the best day of my life."

"We were drunk, Nate. I'm sorry."

"We were, but I've realized now that it's you I'm in love with. I didn't mean to hurt Blair and I care about her-"

"If you care about her then you'll stop all this!"

"I can't. You might not feel the same way about me as I do about you, but I've had enough of lying. I can't pretend any longer."

It dawns on Serena what Nate means to do. Annoyance is quickly replaced with panic.

"Don't!" Serena begs.

Panic makes her heart beat rapidly and her hands shake. Fear makes her sweat and her pupils dilate. Quite frankly, she feels like she's drowning.

"I have to. It's not fair to her. I can't handle lying to her everyday anymore."

"You'll ruin everything! Don't you know what this will do to her?"

"It's only going to hurt more if we continue to hide it. I have to tell Blair."

"What do you have to tell me? What are you guys talking about?"

Blair chose this precise moment to walk in, a sweet smile on her lips, completely oblivious to what a turning point this moment in time was for their friendship.

"Nothing!" Serena quickly answers. "Nothing at all."

The room goes silent and the two blondes' eyes remain fixed on their brunette friend. She eyes them back suspiciously, a corner of her mouth quirked in amusement.

"You guys are strange today. I was just coming to tell you get ready. We're going to leave in twenty. You remember right, S?"

"Y-yeah. Just a second."

"Blair, before you go, I have something to say-" Nate starts, but Serena pulls on his arm.

"Nate, please! This is not a good idea. Think about what you're doing!" Serena whispers.

Nate doesn't listen to Serena's pleading. It's like the truth is just fighting to spill from his lips and he can't stop himself.

"Blair, I'm sorry."

"Why? What for?" Blair asks cattily with her eyebrows quirked.

Nate looks at her strangely and Serena is nearly hysterical. Her face falls somber at the sight. Something was wrong and she doesn't really know if she wants to find out what.

"Blair… I'm so sorry," Nate repeats.

Serena continues to whisper harshly to Nate, tugging on his arm, trying to get him to listen to her. It doesn't work.

"What's going on here?" Blair asks, alarmed.

Her previous euphoria quickly disappears as Serena begins to cry softly, still tugging on Nate's shirt begging him not to destroy her friendship with the one person who has ever been there for her.

"Serena, what's wrong?"

Blair's never seen Serena get so distraught before and she wants to run to her friend, ask her what's wrong, hold her in her arms and tell her everything is alright, but the way Nate is looking at her makes her hesitate. Something was seriously wrong here and she doesn't know what, but she's not going to like it.

"We didn't mean to hurt you."

She doesn't like where this is going.

"Blair… at the Shepherd's wedding… when you were with your mom talking to that buyer… Me and Serena, at the bar… we were really drunk and…"

Nate's speech is stunted and jumbled at best, but Blair can make out the meaning. The Shepherd's wedding. A bar. Nate and Serena. Alone.

She looks from Nate to Serena, shock written across her features as the pieces fall into place.

"Nate, don't!" Serena cries out in between her sobs, even though she knows it's too late to stop now.

"We didn't mean to hurt you. Like I said, we were really drunk and one thing led to another-"

"Don't say it…" Blair whispers. They don't need to fill in the blanks, Blair can imagine what happened.

"I'm sorry, Blair."

Nate is sorry. He doesn't want to be the one that takes away Blair's happiness. He doesn't want to be the one to hurt her because there was a time when she was the one he was in love with. They have an extensive history together spanning over a majority of his life. She was his first love, his first kiss. The least he could do is not break her heart. He knows all this and yet, he can't seem to stop himself from saying those devastating words that will hurt her, that will break her heart.

"I slept with Serena."

Blair suddenly finds her world crashing down, shattering in such a way that no revelation of supernatural beings or magic could ever achieve.

It's surprising how a few jumbled words put in a particular order could have such a capacity for destruction.

To think that mere minutes ago she was the happiest she had ever been. It's the law of physics. What goes up must come down. She should've known, should expected it. Nothing good ever lasts. Blair Waldorf doesn't ever get a Happily Ever After. She was naïve to think it could be otherwise.

"I'm so sorry, Blair. I'm so, so sorry," Serena apologizes in between hiccups and tears. For once the golden goddess becomes fallible. She looks wretched and heart broken and a complete utter mess. But even so it's a beautiful mess. She still manages to look pretty in spite of the mascara tear stains running down her cheeks.

Blair wants to scream that she doesn't have the right to cry. That she is not the wronged one here, she's not the victim and she is not allowed to cry. But Blair's throat has dried up, her tongue disobeys her, and she finds herself effectively rendered mute.

Nate tries to soften the blow by repeating the same things over and over again. "It just happened. We didn't plan on it. We didn't mean to hurt you." As if saying them again and again would make Blair understand. But the blow has been dealt and it's a hurt so painful that she can't seem to remember to breathe let alone listen to Nate's half-assed excuses. To give the boy some credit, half-assed excuses are all he is capable of in this situation.

She feels numb inside. She was so stupid. How could she have missed the signs? It was silly of her to think she could have ever compared to Serena freaking Van der Woodsen. Couldn't do it in elementary school and couldn't do it now. She turns around to leave amidst their cries and tears and calls of "Blair, please! Please forgive us."

She bumps into Chuck in the hallway.

"Blair…"

He looks sad, torn almost. He has probably heard the whole thing. It only adds to her humiliation. You'd think that as rich as the Salvatores were, they would have built better soundproof walls.

"Did… did you know about this?" she manages to croak out.

He hesitates.

"You did, didn't you?" she accuses.

He takes a step forward to reach out to her, but she steps back, hand raised to push him away.

"Blair, I'm-"

"Don't say you're sorry! I don't want to hear another fucking 'I'm sorry'!" She screams at him.

If she was being logical she would realize that she's venting her anger on the wrong person. Chuck was a bystander. It was Nate and Serena she should be screaming at, but she can't bring herself to look at them.

"You knew. And you never said a word. For all that bullshit you said about us being friends," she says the word "friends" as if it was toxic.

"We are friends! I didn't know for sure, okay? I didn't! I only guessed it! Did you really think that you would've listened to me anyways if I had told you?"

"You could have at least tried! But you didn't want to risk selling out your guy pal, Nate. You picked him over me, just like he picked Serena over me. Everyone is picked over me!"

"And if I was wrong? Did you ever think about that? What then, huh? You would've just hated me then, too. Face it. I'm going to become the bad guy no matter what!"

"Well you're right about one thing," she scoffs.

Angry tears rebelliously roll down her cheeks and she wipes away the traces with the back of her hand.

"I hate you."

Chuck looks hurt, but at the moment she doesn't care.

"I hate all of you," she whispers, tears continue to disobediently make salty trails down her face even though she's using all of her will power to stop them.

Blair Waldorf doesn't cry prettily like Serena Van der Woodsen. She could feel her eyes puffing up and turning red already. Snot filling her nostrils, forcing her to breathe with heavy heaving sobs. If only her mother were here now, the humiliation would be complete.

Chuck tries to reach out again, but she pushes past him. She needs to escape.

"Blair!" Chuck calls out after her.

"Leave her alone. You've done enough damage," a voice growls from around the corner.

Dark eyes meet blue eyes in the dim lighting of the hallway.

"Mind your own fucking business, Salvatore,' Chuck spits out.

"You forget that you're a guest in my house. That makes it my business."

Chuck continues to glare at Damon as he leisurely walks over to a nearby shelf to pick up a book.

"She's right, you know. You chose the wrong side, Bass. You should've picked her," Damon states idly as he flips through random pages.

"I was trying to protect her. Serena had left. Nate's little indiscretion could have been kept under wraps. If you know her at all, you know what Nate meant to her. She loves him. I wasn't going to be the one to break her heart."

Damon shuts the book with an angry snap.

"She doesn't love him."

"You don't know anything about Blair," Chuck sneers.

"More than you."

"Back the fuck off, Salvatore, or I'll –"

"Or you'll what? Strangle me with your scarf?"

"Just stay away from her. Stay away from us," Chuck hisses as he marches to the nearest exist and slams the door shut behind him.

xxx

Damon finds Blair sitting outside in the grass, barefoot aside from the lacey tights, hair blowing wildly in the wind. It's not her usual preferred look and given other circumstances Damon wouldn't laugh if anyone told him that Blair Waldorf was sitting outside in the dirt without shoes and getting grass stains on her white cashmere sweater dress.

The sunny weather had changed to overcast in mere minutes, almost like it mimicked her mood. He approaches her with trepidation.

"Leave me alone."

She doesn't even bother to grace him with a passing glance, and just continues to stare off into the forest.

"What happened to your shoes?"

"The heel broke, so I took them off."

"I told you so," he says with a smirk. "Jimmy Choos aren't meant for long walks."

"They were Manolos," she corrects.

"Even worse."

"Please, as if you can go a day without your designer t-shirts."

Her barbs are half-hearted at best and don't have their usual stinging wit.

"Remind me to tell Stefan he still owes me a new one."*

He sits himself down next to her and she finally graces him with a glance. It's oddly reminiscent of the first time they met. It was the same sad look, the same snipes and insults that try to hide exactly how miserable she really is. She hasn't really ever changed from that lonely girl he met at the bar.

He had wanted to expose Serena and Nate for their crime, but he didn't want her to get hurt, although he knew she would have. He had underestimated exactly how much those two meant to her and somewhere in his head he knows he's at least partially responsible for that sad gaze. It makes his dead heart hang heavy in his chest. He might have not been the one that pulled the trigger, but he was the one that put the gun in Nate's hands. He swears to himself that he'll fix it all in the end. If anything, he'll dedicate his immortal life to fix this mess of a girl up.

"If you're here about the tomb, then forget about it. I'm not in the mood," she replies flippantly, trying desperately to grasp what little dignity and normalcy she had left.

"It's not about the tomb."

"Fine, whatever it is-"

"I don't want anything."

"Liar."

The word came out harsher than she meant it to and he visibly flinches.

"You're just like them. If I weren't an 'Immune' or whatever… if you never thought I was a witch in the beginning you never would have approached me."

"I didn't know you were a witch when we first met."

"Well, I was supposed to be your dinner then," she baits.

"Well…" he trailed off. She got him there.

"See?" She says with a fake smile laced with poison. "You're all the same. Everyone has ulterior motives."

"Do you want to back out?"

"What? So you can kill me?" she scoffs. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea. Not much left for me anyways. Not like I'll be missed."

"I'd miss you." Her last statement makes him angry and so his answer comes out severe.

"I don't believe you," she states, looking away once more.

It makes him angrier that she refuses to look at him in the eyes, so he takes her face into his hands and forces her to look at him.

"Believe it. You might die someday, but it's not going to be because of me."

"And why not?" she retorts heatedly back, almost like she's trying to goad him into a fight.

It's the same question she asked when she first discovered his little bloody secret. She was right the first time around. He needed her to open the tomb. The reason is still valid, so it's shocking to Damon himself what hey says next.

"Because I care about you." Because deep down inside, he can't imagine a world without her anymore and maybe he should just acknowledge it. "I'm on your side. Nate, Serena, they can pick and choose whoever they want. It doesn't matter. I choose you, Blair Waldorf."

She wants to tell him off for eavesdropping on her conversations again, but she doesn't have the energy to bring herself to do it. Plus, it's nice to hear that someone picked her for once, even if she doesn't entirely believe it.

He brushes away those angry tears of hers with his thumbs because she refuses to unclench her fists. "No strings, Blair. If it's getting too much for you… just say so. I'll take you home."

She just keeps staring at him with those large doe eyes of hers, red rimmed and glossy.

"If I could, I'd take away your pain. But I can't. So this is what I'm offering."

If she wants out, he'll give her out. She just needs to say the word. It doesn't matter how much he has already invested in this. He'll find another way.

"I…I don't want to go home," she whispers finally. "At all."**

"Then stay here, with me."

In that moment, she decides that's exactly what she wants to do.

xxx

Blair returns to the mansion to find Serena waiting for her, luggage all packed and ready to go waiting besides her.

"You're not welcomed here anymore," Damon threatens.

"I want to talk to Blair."

"Well she doesn't want to talk to you."

"Are you speaking for her now?"

"You little-"

"Damon, it's ok. I got this."

He looks back at her hoping that she'll change her mind.

"Just go," she urges.

He leaves, but reluctantly. Serena watches him go with trepidation. Once he has round the corner, she quickly turns her attention back at Blair.

"You're not gone yet?" Blair asks coldly, her voice so icy Serena could almost feel frostbite from them.

"I'm going, but I…I had to talk to you."

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say."

"Blair, please… let me explain."

"Explain what? Explain how you take everything from me? It wasn't enough that you had to be the center of attention all the time, be liked by everybody, my mom, the girls on the steps, now you're going to take Nate, too?"

"I didn't care about Nate!"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Blair replies sarcastically.

"It wasn't about taking Nate! I don't want him!"

"No, you just want whatever you can't have!"

"You're right. What…no… who I want… is somebody I can't have."

Blair shakes her head at the other girl in disbelief. She couldn't believe Serena had the nerve to even try speaking to her. The betrayal was too much. Blair prepares to walk away, but Serena grabs her hand and yanks her back.

"I love you, Blair."

"No, you love yourself."

"That's not it!"

The blonde struggles to make her meaning across, her brain scrambling for the right thing to say and not finding it. Blair doesn't have the patience to hear it.

"I'm never going to forgive you for this. That's all I have left to say to you," Blair states coldly. "I see you already packed your bags, you can show yourself the way out."

She slaps away Serena's hand and gives the other girl a sneer before turning her back on her. Blair only makes it three steps before she halts to a stop.

"I…I… I'm in love with you," Serena confesses.

Blair whips around.

"W-what?"

"It took me leaving to realize that. What happened with Nate, I was angry and jealous. He didn't even appreciate you, when I loved you so much."

Once Serena started, the words flowed out of her. All those years of just trying to catch Blair's attention. The endless round of boys that she used to fill a void that couldn't be filled.

"You were always there for me, B. They only one. I love you and everyday I had to see you with him. Can't you see? It should be you and me."

She didn't know when it was that she stopped loving her best friend as a best friend and something more, but she was so sure that in the end, she and Blair were bound together. Whether it by fate or by coincidence. It doesn't matter. They were Serena and Blair.

So why is that they're not together?

"Why isn't it me?" Serena asks, heart broken.

Serena is in love with her. Serena Van der Woodsen, who all the boys love and who loves all the boys, is in love with her.

"Blair, please say something."

She doesn't know what to say, she's just waiting for someone to pinch her and end this vivid dream she's having.

On the other side of the room, Nate Archibald hears the entire thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * In The Vampire Diaries: Family Ties (#1.4), Stefan stabs Damon with a knife, thus ripping a hole in Damon's John Varvatos t-shirt:
> 
> Damon Salvatore: [after Stefan stabbed him through the t-shirt] This is John Varvatos, dude. Dick move.
> 
> ** Anyone watched the Iron Man 2 movie? I just love that scene between Tony and Pepper.


	12. Chapter 12

There's a sort of ringing in Nate's head that won't go away.

"I didn't care about Nate!"

Heart pounding away in his chest. Blood rushing, roaring in his ears. Filling it up with white noise.

"I love you, Blair."

If he had stopped to think about it, he would realize that it made sense. Serena was in love with Blair. That made sense.

"I…I… I'm in love with you."

But at the moment, Nate's brain function was at all time low and all he can do is keep from tipping over in shock. The vertigo gets too much at one point and he stumbles backwards knocking into one of the Salvatore's precious crystal vases and sending it crashing onto the floor.

Both Blair and Serena turn towards the noise and their eyes find him standing there looking like an idiot next to the rubble. He's never felt so exposed.

The Salvatores can bill him later. Right now all he wants to do is leave.

"Nate!" Serena exclaims.

He doesn't answer and continues walking away leaving the two girls he had ever cared about in the entire world watching him leave. Neither of them follows him.

xxx

He finds a familiar company via Chuck at the bar. Chuck has already gone through two expensive bottles of merlot, his tab equivalent to the cost of a small sedan.

"I didn't think this small town would have such good wine selection," Chuck rasps.

Nate doesn't answer, but he sits himself down next to his best friend.

"I messed up."

"No shit," Chuck replies without missing a beat.

"I royally completely messed up."

Chuck just nods drunkenly and proceeds to fill two shot glasses of vodka. Nate takes it and downs the thing in one quick gulp and to which Chuck refills to the brim. They down shot after shot for a while in mutual silence.

"Serena is in love with Blair," Nate reveals in between his 5th and 6th shot.

"I know…" Chuck murmurs.

"You know?"

"I told you not to waste your time."

"I loved her! How could you not tell me?"

He stands up violently, knocking the bar stool over and spilling several drinks. Why is it that everyone is keeping secrets? Is there no truth in the world anymore? A feeling of self-pity overwhelms the young Archibald.

"I fucking loved Serena and you knew she loved Blair! How could you keep something like that from me?"

Nate is angry, feels he has every right to be. Chuck is of the same opinion.

"I tried warning you! How many times did I tell you not to go after Serena? I thought you would've done the right thing-"

"Don't start! You don't have any right to lecture me on doing the right thing! As if you've ever done anything right in your life!"

When you hurt as much as Nate does, you want to make those around hurt the same.

"Shut up before you say something you regret."

"As if you ever loved anyone! Must have been hard to know how it feels since nobody ever loved you!"

"Don't go there, Archibald," Chuck warns.

"What are you going to do about, Daddy's Boy?"

Chuck throws the first punch and it lands on Nate's left eye. Nate retaliates by tackling Chuck onto the ground, careening on top of one of the tables, sending several dinner plates crashing to the floor.

Chuck laughs halfheartedly from his position on the floor, carefully pushing himself up as the bartender grab hold of Nate.

"And to think, I picked you over Blair," Chuck sneers. "I had some sick, convoluted illusion of brotherhood. Some idealized, dated notion of a guy code. So I picked your side over hers."

Chuck brushes himself off, touching his split lip tentatively and wincing as his hand came away with blood.

"I might not be a saint, but you're a stupid, selfish little prick. You think you loved Serena? Well what about Blair, huh? She loved you, though I don't understand why. How is your love better than hers? What gives you the right to rip out her heart?"

Nate turns suddenly sober.

"It took fucking Salvatore's pompous lecture for me to realize it. I should've been on her side. Because you? You're the screw-up. You didn't deserve her and you blew it. It's not even about just you and Blair. It's all of us. You didn't just fuck around with anybody. You screw over Blair with Serena. We're never going to be the same again after this, don't you understand?"

Nate merely shakes his head in disbelief.

"This. Is. Irreparable."

A security guard belatedly shows up at Chuck's side to throw him out. The young Bass shrugs the guy's hands off of him and makes his own way through the rubble of what used to be a table and a bar stool to the exit.

"Get your own fucking ride back into the city," Chuck snarls over his shoulder.

xxx

Nate finds Serena at the Hilton twenty minutes outside of town. On the way there, he had wondered if things would have ended up differently if they had checked in there like they were suppose to instead of staying with the Salvatores. Probably not.

He approaches the front desk and they call Serena's room. He half expected her to refuse to see him, but sure enough the receptionist hands him over a key and he makes his solemn ascent to her room.

She looks tired and distracted, currently sorting though her stuff looking for something or other.

"You used me."

He doesn't bother with any sort of greeting.

"Yes," Serena answers simply, not pausing at her task.

"I loved you."

Serena sighs and looks up from the middle of refolding a sequined t-shirt.

"You loved the idea of me, Nate. You were always controlled by your family and so you thought could find escape from your parent's expectations with me. You used me, too. But I'm not the answer to your problems."

"Do you really love Blair?"

"I do, but it doesn't matter. She's never going to love me back the same way. I realize that now. I've been selfish."

He nods silent. "It wasn't just you. I made a horrible mistake. I didn't deserve her."

Serena sighs and throws herself down on the bed, hugging herself as if she was cold even though the room was warm.

"What are you going to do now?" he asks.

"… I don't know. She wanted me to leave, so I guess I will go back to New York. Or maybe even back to boarding school... Somewhere away from here."

"What should I do?"

"I can't tell you that, Nate," Serena answers. She covers her eyes with her hands and makes a wish to nobody. "I want to rewind time."

Don't we all?

Nate leans back against the wall, his eyes aimed skyward as if he was searching for answers from the ceiling tiles. Chuck had said that this was irreparable and now Nate is deathly afraid that he was right. He had everything and now it's gone. All of it.

"Whatever it is that you're going to do, think hard about what you really want. And if you find that you still want her, then you're going to have to fight for her. She's not going to forgive you very easily."

"She will though, won't she? In time?"

"One can only hope."

Serena kisses Nate chastely on the cheek good bye. This time around Nate's skin doesn't tingle, his heart doesn't pound and his palms don't sweat. There's just a sort of numbness to everything.

"Good bye, Serena"

The tragic thing about Blair Waldorf is that she was always in love with the wrong person. Blair, Nate and Serena are caught in an impossible situation that could never result in a happy ending. Serena knows this and there's nothing left for her here, so she packs her bags and leaves.

xxx

Blair had watched Nate's taxi disappear over the horizon from the window on the second floor. He had come back after Chuck and Serena had left. He tried to see her, but Damon wouldn't let him come in, having thrown his stuff out in the front yard.

"She doesn't want to see you and frankly I'm sick of your face myself," Damon says bluntly in reply to Nate's demands to see Blair.

There's a rather smug look on Damon's face that just didn't sit right with Nate.

"Also, you owe me a vase. That was Swarovski crystal, you know?" the older Salvatore adds cheekily.

Nate had spotted her watching from her window. He looked a mess, like he hasn't slept or showered, wearing two days old clothes. He tries once again to pass the threshold, but Damon shoves him back. He tries pleading with her silently with his eyes. Those pretty blue eyes that she used to drown in. They look quite ordinary now. She wonders to herself what was so special about them that had made her love him so.

There's a saying that goes 'time heals all wounds,' perhaps that is just what they all need. Some time away from one another to forgive, to forget. Maybe if he gave her some space, he can try again.

Nate realizes that there's not much more he can do, so he picks up his strewn belongings and loads up the taxi cab. They had all come here together, but they're all leaving alone. They came to get Blair, but she's the one that stays. They leave behind the ripples of the destruction of their friendship and heartbreak in their wake. As he gets into his taxi, he thinks to himself how if there exists a God, he must love irony.

He mouths "I'm sorry" to her before he leaves.

xxx

She couldn't believe how things could have changed so fast. It was all too much to take. Serena and Nate's betrayal, Chuck's knowledge about the whole debacle, followed by Serena's shocking revelation and the departure of three out of the four members of her precious Breakfast Club. How they all so easily fell apart.

Blair twists and turns in bed recalling every detail. Like a masochist she relives the events of the past chaotic twenty-four hours over and over again. The memory of Serena's confession was particularly nagging. She couldn't give Serena a proper answer to her question.

"Why isn't it me?"

She can't get rid of Serena's sorrowful face from her memory. She loved Serena. But not in the way Serena wanted to be loved. She doesn't know why she doesn't, but she just doesn't. It might have made more sense if she did. It would have saved them both a lot of the heart ache.

Throughout her childhood, Blair's one constant had always been Serena. But things had changed. They had grown up, though perhaps not any wiser. Her feelings didn't develop into the same love that Serena's did. But she understands the other girl's feeling. It hurts when the person you love don't love you back, not in the way you want them to anyways. In this way she feels sorry towards Serena, but at the same time she realizes that Serena can't use love as an excuse for her actions. So when Serena left, she didn't stop her. Maybe being away from each other this time around would do them both more good than harm. At least she hopes so.

xxx

Cleaning up the fallout of Serena and Nate's affair had not been easy. Blair had gone back to her habits to nitpicking her food and stowing away to bathroom when she thinks he's not watching. Before Damon had let it all go because he didn't think he had the right to tell her what to do with her life. He still doesn't, but he's not going to stand by and watch her slowly waste away anymore. She said she wanted to stay with him, and so he was going to hold her to that promise.

The next time she gets up to go to the restroom during dinner, he follows her. There are other girls in there who make a great show of being surprised at his presence in their intimate setting, but he knows they're all eying him appreciatively.

"Damon!" Blair scolds.

"Get out, all of you," he commands the ogling adolescent girls not so subtly checking him out.

They exchange nervous glances, but refuse to budge. Blair crosses her arms smugly, raising an eyebrow at him as if to challenge him. He's the invader here and he has no right to go around making demands.

"Get. Out."

He laces his words this time with some persuasive power. The room is quickly cleared out, leaving only Blair and himself.

"What are you doing, Salvatore? Pervy much? I need to use the ladies room."

"I'm not letting you go throw up your dinner. You are already eating little as it is. And don't you think this whole poor rich girl with an eating disorder act has been overplayed?"

She doesn't look at all surprised that he knows. He's not at all dense like Nate was, so she doesn't even bother to deny it.

"Why do you care? You never stopped me before," she retorts.

"You said nobody ever picked your side. Well, I told you that I'm on your side. That means defending you against yourself. I'll use force if I have to."

"You'd hit me?" she cries incredulously, hands on hips.

"I'll gag you with a dirty sock," he replies with a smile. "You know I'll do it."

She's not quite sure he's bluffing. Nobody is going to gag Blair Waldorf with soiled hosiery.

"This is ridiculous. You know, I was really only coming in here to wash my hands."

He continues to smile back at her. "Then go wash your hands."

The two engage in a staring contest for awhile before Blair pushes past him irritably and goes back out to the restaurant.

She starts eating again under his constant surveillance and the threat of sullied laundry looming over her head. With her appetite coming back, her usual brand of acerbic humor does as well. He breathes a silent sigh of relief. Things start to go back to normal, or as normal as Damon Salvatore and Blair Waldorf can get.

Before they know it All Hallows' Eve is upon them. Which means Bonnie will be coming to collect.

The Salvatore mansion was exploited to its full gothic potential and filled to the brim with teenage adolescents hoping to party hard and get lucky. Elena and Stefan had quickly resumed their sickening love bird routine once Serena had left. One of first things they decided to do (after lots of heavy make out sessions) was to throw a Halloween party together. Blair says it was Elena's way of publicly marking her territory in case some other blonde bimbo got any ideas.

"I'm surprised that Stefan was willing to host a party this year since last year's was so disastrous."

"Knowing you, you probably had a hand in the destruction."

"You know me well."

Damon smirks and she roll her eyes.

"Don't you like my costume?" He asks, flaunting his bright red cape.

"You look ridiculous," she states simply, scrunching her nose at the image of him in his full Dracula regalia. "Are you wearing fake fangs?"

Indeed they were. Bonnie had sent over a package with all the essentials a week in advance.

"I wunt to suck your blooood," he imitates in way that was suppose to be dramatic, but ends up being comical instead. It earns him some laughter and he's quite satisfied despite all the humiliation the rest of the evening promises to bring. He has missed her laugh. He was afraid that that laugh might have been gone for good after the whole Serena-Nate incident. She didn't smile fully with her eyes like she did before, but he believes that in good time, wounds would heal and he could wheedle out some more genuine smiles.

"If you keep this up, I'm not hanging out with you," she says sternly, but he can make out the amusement glinting in her eyes.

Damon sees Stefan watching him from the corner of his eyes and sure enough the prodigal younger brother is making his way towards his much less virtuous older brother, probably to give a lecture on the latter's erroneous ways.

"Oh, great. Here Stefan comes…" Damon mutters underneath his breath. "Probably to make sure I don't eat any of the guests."

"I'll leave you two to… talk," Blair excuses herself with a sly smile.

"Traitor," Damon calls out after her, but she's already scurrying away, having seen Bonnie by the refreshments with Elena giggling and pointing at him.

Damon narrows his eyes at the witch and she blows a raspberry in his direction in return. He's tempted to retaliate despite the immaturity. It's hard to feel very mature when he is draped in cheap polyester. He sees Blair laughing, for the second time today, at something Elena said and the humiliation becomes worth it. He remembers that Bonnie had done him a favor and if this was the price, so be it. Instead of some lewd gesture, Damon raises a glass in salute to the witch. She had delivered what she had promised and for that he's grateful.

Damon's brief moment of pleasure quickly dissipates as he hears his brother's footsteps come to a stop behind him. Turning around to face Stefan, Damon allows himself to plaster on a half-hearted smile.

"What is it now? Let me guess, somebody broke a fingernail and you think it's my fault?"

Stefan snorts and shakes his head. "I… I just wanted to say that you've surprised me."

Damon quirks his eyebrow in puzzlement at Stefan's strange statement. "The costume wasn't my idea, I assure you."

"No, no. Although I must say this is a good look for you," Stefan says impishly. "I like the princess sleeves."

"I took the shirt from your closet," Damon quips. "Don't you recall that one time when you were really into-"

"Anyways," Stefan interrupts, spluttering a little and turning a slight pink (or as pink as someone undead could turn). "What I wanted to say was that when you came back, again, I was sure you were going to wreck some more havoc, as you are prone to do. I mean I was sure you had hatched another plan to destroy the town and murder innocent bystanders, women and children and whatnot… but you didn't. And that surprised me."

"I think there is a compliment in there somewhere."

"What I'm trying to say is," Stefan repeats in a louder voice. "Is that you've changed. Other than converting our house into a sort of hostel for New York refugees…"

Please, as if he didn't enjoy Serena's stay. He guess Stefan have to keep up appearances with Elena present. Boy did she have his little brother on a short leash. It would be amusing if it wasn't so pathetic.

"…you've been great. It's been good to have you home. I was skeptical at first, but I think you've grown…"

Stefan pauses to search for an appropriate word and Damon dearly hopes his brother is not about to use the word "soft" or "kind" or some other nauseating cliché word that could easily double as a description for the cuddly woodland creatures Stefan likes to snack on.

"More human," Stefan finishes.

Humans are definitely neither soft nor kind (at least not the majority of them). And so Damon thinks he doesn't mind the comparison, even if Stefan was wrong. He's a monster through and through. He hasn't changed. Not at all. At least he doesn't think he has.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of you. I think Blair is a good influence and I'm glad you brought her."

Stefan awkwardly clasps his older brother's shoulder and walks away to join his girlfriend. Blair notices the end of the two brother's conversation and sneaks up behind him.

"What did Stefan want?" she asks.

"You know Stefan, just babbling on about his feelings again. I never should have let him watch that lifetime movie marathon."

Blair smirks and swats his arm playfully. "Be nice. He's still your brother. He's put up with your crap for over a century. The guy should be getting a metal."

"Whose side are you on anyways?" Damon demands in mock anger.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Salvatore. I don't want to listen to your sibling quarrels all night."

"Then how about a dance? So I can forget about Stefan's little heart-to-heart."

She smiles and places her hand in his extended one. He twirls her around and she laughs again. For the third time. Not like he's counting or anything. But the sight of Blair laughing girlishly as he spins her and dips her makes her look so very young, so very innocent and undamaged. It makes his chest tighten in a pleasurable way. Stefan said she made him more human. If this is what it means to be human, he doesn't mind it. Not at all.

xxx

On the whole, Halloween this year is a lot more fun than the last. Nobody died, nobody got turned into a vampire, nobody got staked and nobody got their memories wiped. Sure there were some drunken partiers that broke a few precious heirlooms. He never liked that grandfather clock anyways. All in all, it was quite a successful event.

As the last of the guests are leaving, Bonnie pulls Blair and Damon aside, away from any idle ears. Her eyes have that misty sheen which meant that Emily has taken over.

"What is it?" Blair asks.

"Tomorrow night is the Hunter's Moon. All of our preparations are ready," the old witch spirit answers. "It's time to open the tomb."

Blair looks at Damon expectantly, like he should be jumping for joy or something. And he should be. He should be elated, ecstatic, euphoric, but for some reason it feels like the beginning of the end.

xxx

Blair finds Damon in the study fixing himself a drink while Stefan and Elena cleaned up downstairs. He had rid himself of the evening's ridiculous get up and was back into his black Armani dress shirts and the smile he had on all evening is replaced with solemnity. She misses the lightness of the evening. Ever since Emily informed them of the impending full moon, there's been a level of tension in the air. All their work up until now has led them to this. This is what they've all been working for. In twenty-four hours they could enjoy the fruits of their labor. It should be cause for celebration! So why is she dreading tomorrow?

How quickly time has flown. Despite Stefan's little speech, Damon had let slip the real reason why he had come back to Mystic Falls. So much had happened that he had quite forgotten about the whole tomb thing as of late. It only dawned on him now that he was mere hours away from being reunited with Katherine again. Katherine.

"Tomorrow's the day," Blair says from the doorway. He's shaken out of his reverie and looks up to see her drawing nervous circles with her finger against the door frame.

"Yeah."

He silently asks her if she'd like glass, nodding in the direction of the decanter. She shakes her head no and he continues to refill his own glass only to empty it a second later. She has since abandon her post at the door and have moved on over to the couch and looking around the room as if she's never been in it before. Her restlessness is a clear tell that she's anxious, though about what he doesn't know. He's the one who's trying his best to keep the tremor from his grip on the wine glass.

"So this is Katherine?" Blair asks, holding up a miniature portrait of the infamous Katherine Pierce.

"That's her alright."

Blair studies the face of the woman whose ghost continues to haunt the older Salvatore from beyond the grave. Her presence forever imprinted into his mind.

"She really does look an awful lot like Elena."

"Elena looks like her," Damon corrects.

Katherine was the cause of everything. "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" That's what he had said to Elena. And what a woman Katherine must have been for no other girl to have ever compared, at least not in his eyes. For some reason this thought makes Blair's chest hurt.

"Why did you ever go to so much trouble? Why not Elena? Maybe Elena is Katherine. She could be lying to you. Did you ever think about that? You don't even know what you'll find in the tomb."

"Elena is not Katherine. I'd know it if she was. They're not the same. Stefan might be content with a knock-off, but I'm not."

What is it about the girl in this portrait miniature that inspired decades, centuries of devotion? What magical allurement does this Katherine person have? She really wants to know, because she's jealous. Blair Waldorf is honestly, completely, totally jealous of Katherine Pierce.

"You sound so sure of yourself… You must love her a lot," Blair says, tearing her eyes away from Katherine's coy gaze etched on parchment.

"Did that just occur to you?"

"It has occurred to me, but I never really believed you were capable of actually loving only one person. You don't look the type. You seem more likely to break hearts than to give them away."

He is. He has left a long trail of broken hearts in his wake for the past near two hundred years of his life. Katherine had always been the standard and nobody had ever measured up.

"Is this your way of telling me I'm a totally irresistible heartthrob Casanova? Because I totally am," he replies audaciously.

Blair scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"Are you really telling me that for the past hundred plus years of roaming the earth, you've never found anyone else?"

He would give Katherine the world on a silver platter if he could. She was everything. He would do anything for her if only she'd ask and sometimes even when she didn't. As long as she was happy, he'd do it. There's nobody else that could compare.

"Don't you think that's just so… unfair?" Blair says sadly. "I mean, all those poor girls falling in love with you and you never even gave them a chance."

It's true. There have been thousands of girls over the centuries, but none that have ever made him feel a fraction of what Katherine made him feel. Nobody ever made him happy the way she did, nobody made him hurt the way she did, nobody ever made him feel the way she did. Nobody.

Except…

He shakes his head to clear away his thoughts and pours himself another glass.

"And this is coming from the Ice Queen," he jibes, walking towards her.

"I'm not an Ice Queen. I am quite the appropriate… temperature," she finishes lamely. Her wit is not quite up to par tonight. She shouldn't have let Damon spin her around so much. A blush creeps on her cheeks at the memory. She never would have allowed that sort of wanton behavior had she been in New York.

"You're frigid," he teases. He doesn't know why she's blushing, but he likes the color on her cheeks. "And you know what? With your uptight princess act and those short little mini skirts that you strut around in, you're a complete tease."

There's been an unnervingly familiar feeling that has been blossoming in his chest since he met Blair Waldorf. She has a unique ability of making him forget about Katherine. A seemingly impossible feat. At least he had always thought it was. He thought he was through with being surprised.

"I am not!" she pouts.

Her lips are distracting and his thoughts keep on veering dangerously back to that one incomplete mental sentence. No one had ever matched up to Katherine. Except…

"Are too," he sing-songs.

"Am not!" she replies immaturely. She doesn't quite feel like herself tonight.

"Really?" he counters skeptically.

"Yes."

"Then prove it."

"I don't have to prove anything to you, and you're just trying to change the subje-"

He silences her protests by grabbing her face and placing a spontaneous kiss on those ruby red lips she keeps flaunting. They're as soft as he imagined, maybe softer.

It lasts only a second. She shoves him away and slaps him across the face.

"See? Frigid," he announces.

"You're a pig!"

"But a handsome one," he points out cockily. "And a good kisser. Any other girl would've been joyous."

"Why don't you go look for one of them then?"

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand angrily.

"You know? I'm really sick of guys kissing me when they're thinking of other girls."

The words cut right through him.

"Go to hell, Salvatore."

She slams the door on her way out. This is what she gets for trying to comfort an arrogant, womanizing, self-absorbed ass. It doesn't help that he makes her heart pound. She wipes her mouth again with the back of her hand, but the pounding doesn't still. What makes it worse is that he could probably hear it with that annoying super vampire hearing ability that he has. She flushes bright red, mutter some profanity in his direction, and marches off to her bedroom.

xxx

He doesn't know what got into him and he can't even blame it on the alcohol. It's not like he hasn't thought about kissing her before. In fact he's been thinking about kissing her a lot, a little too much for comfort. He's in love with Katherine. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. The person he's spent the past one hundred and fifty years, ninety-two days, seven hours and twenty-one minutes mourning and pining over. And tomorrow he's going to get her back. That should be the foremost thought occupying his mind, not senseless fantasies about a different brunette in impossibly impractical high heels and silky slips pooling around her ankles. He gets up abruptly from his seat and starts pacing.

It's just nerves combined with lots of pent up sexual tension and high emotions. He pours himself yet another drink and lets the liquid flames burn their way down his throat. All the kick without any of the calming effects. Of all the things he misses from being human, it's the ability to get mind numbingly drunk whenever they want to.

She must hate him. They were friends. Friends don't kiss other friends. Not like that. She deserved better. Her line about being sick of being kissed by guys who were thinking of other girls had hurt more than any stake through the heart. He didn't want to be put in the same category as Nathaniel Archibald. He'd rather go sunbathing without his ring on.

He has since emptied the bar of any good hard liquor and there were only bottles of white wine and champagne left. It sparks his memory of their kiss. She had tasted like expensive champagne and something sweet. His lips still tingle from it. It was almost worth the slap, which actually did hurt given the strength she put into it. He touches his cheek in memory and smiles. She's cute when she's so fired up. The smile quickly disappears when he remembers how he quite possibly screwed up the only friendship he ever had because he couldn't properly deal with some pesky emotions.

When did he start feeling anything other than rage and grief? In the end it was really her fault. It was Blair who made him feel alive again. It was terrifying, but he wouldn't give it up for the world. Maybe not even for Katherine. What an even scarier thought. One he never thought was possible. Blair Waldorf seems to be just chock-full of impossible things.

Damon rubs his face with the palms of his hand and slumps into one of the leather sofas. He doesn't get up till morning.

xxx

The sun eventually rises and Blair forces herself out of bed, dreading the moment she sees Damon again after what happened last night. She brings her hands up to touch her lips and the memory makes her blush, though whether the blush is a result of anger or pleasure, she's not quite sure.

Damon was just edgy about the possibility of finding Katherine again. He was just upset. It didn't mean anything. It didn't mean anything at all.

Given all the logic and reasoning, the weight on her chest still does not lift. In fact it seems even heavier. Does she want it to mean something? She shakes her head to clear away such dangerous thoughts. There will not be a Damon and Blair relationship other than a platonic one. She just got out of a relationship where the guy was in love with another girl and given that Damon has been pining after Katherine for over a century, she doesn't think she could compete. Blair Waldorf isn't known for getting herself into losing battles. Pragmatism. She's learnt her lesson the hard way. Not that she wants to compete with Katherine anyways. She doesn't. Not at all. They're just friends. Good friends, but just friends nonetheless. She groans out loud at the ridiculousness of it all and drags her feet towards her closet.

She goes through the motions of her usual morning routine. Sooner or later she realizes it only takes so long to wash her face and comb her hair. With a groan, she puts down her hair brush and checks herself one last time in the mirror before heading towards the exit.

She opens her bedroom door to find a note that simply read: I'm sorry. – D, on the floor besides a bouquet of red wild roses.

xxx

He sees her at the breakfast table picking at her food, a clear sign that she was anxious. And they were making so much progress. It's all awkward silence without neither Stefan nor Elena to buffer them. The two love birds had to be at school early today of all days to prepare for a pep rally. The whole idea of a 162 year old Stefan getting ready for a high school pep rally was beyond asinine to Damon, but love makes you do silly things. Still he wishes his little brother had chosen a different day to be absent for breakfast. For the most part Blair is ignoring him and he's just walking around, opening the cabinets and the fridge, looking for nothing in particular. Eventually he breaks the silence.

"So… are you like still angry at me or something?"

"Depends," She replies, daintily dabbing her mouth with a napkin and then soothing it on the table. "Are you still a jerk?"

"Guilty. But you have to admit, I'm a charming one. Didn't you get the flowers?"

"Yes, but I wish you were more original. That move has been made by playboys and womanizers way too many times."

"That's because it always works," he says smirking. "The fact that you're speaking to me just serves to prove my point."

She throws a blueberry at him, which he catches with his mouth.

"See? You're even feeding me now. If this were a 90s high school romcom, you'd be writing me secret love letters and drawing my name into your notebook within lunch time."

"You're insufferable! And next time I'd prefer peonies from a flower shop instead of the weeds you found in the backyard."

He scoffs. "Peonies are for old British ladies who spend their days knitting and sipping tea in the parlor without their dentures. I thought wild roses were much more fitting. What? You didn't like them?"

"You didn't even remove the thorns," she complains.

"Like I said, much more fitting."

They banter like normal and both breathe a mental sigh of relief. They've silently agreed to forget about last night and he's more than happy to comply. It was only a kiss between friends who were going through some stuff. He was just seeking some physical comfort and companionship and she was there for him. It was a slip of judgment and it won't be repeated.

It's just a kiss. It's just a kiss. He repeats it in his head like a mantra.

If he really got down to it, all of this mental process is just excuses piled on top of self denial, and twisted logic and justifications. He feels like a schoolboy again. She makes him feel this way and that's the problem. She's not supposed to make him feel this way. She's the wrong girl.

They might both have long wavy hair, but it's not the same color. Katherine's darker, more mahogany to Blair's chestnut. They might both have enticing pouty lips, but they didn't feel the same. Katherine's were always cold. Maybe that trait came hand in hand with being a vampire, but he thinks even as a human Katherine's kisses were probably ice cold. Blair's on the other hand left him feeling slightly scorched. Both were masters at using mischievous, coquettish smiles to get what they want. The difference was, there is a level of vulnerability in Blair's come hither look. She smiles as if she were silently pleading "but please don't break my heart" to her previous haughty declaration of "come if you dare." Such show of vulnerability is completely absent in Katherine's. He has always been the one in danger of getting his heart broken in that relationship. They're not the same.

He snaps himself out of his dangerous thoughts. He's thinking about the wrong girl and this is no time to be thinking about the wrong girl.

Katherine. Katherine. He changes his mantra.

He needs to be thinking about the right girl. After all, everything he has done up to now, it has all been for her. The one and only Katherine Pierce. And before the day is over, he'll have her again and nothing else will matter.

xxx

The rest of the day crawls at a sluggish pace, night taking forever to come. Eventually the sun decides to stop the game of stalemate and sets, allowing the stars to come out of hiding. Stefan is out on a date with Elena tonight, completely convinced of his older brother's change for the better, completely at peace of mind and so completely wrong.

The full moon lights their path to the forest clearing, their journey tonight of all nights is silent. There's no banter, no complaints, no jokes. They just make their way solemnly to the tomb. Before they know it, they're breaking out of the trees and stumbling into the clearing. Emily has already set up everything and is waiting for them.

"The spell will only keep the tomb open for thirty minutes, I don't have the strength to keep it open for longer. You'll have to get her out of there by that time if you plan to get back out," Emily warns.

Damon nods his agreement and looks back at Blair who's currently clenching her fists. This is what they've all been working for.

"Do it," he says simply.

The witch doesn't need to be told twice. He's glad because he doesn't have time for second guessing and doubts.

"Damon, wait!" Blair calls after him as he makes his way towards the tomb.

He turns around to look at her and her nerves go on overdrive.

"Come back quickly. I won't forgive you if you get yourself stuck in there," she threatens. "You still owe me a favor. I won't have you weaseling out of it."

She's lying of course. She wouldn't have gone through so much trouble for a mere favor. Especially not since Nate is no longer in the picture. No, she's doing this because… he asked her. Because he wants it and she can't say no. It's just that simple. He smiles at her habit of covering up the fact that she cares with threats and haughty glares. Blair Waldorf is a big softie underneath that glacial exterior. It's just that few are willing to work so hard to get past the seemingly unbreakable walls that she's put up. Putting on airs, keeping up with appearances, those are the contents Blair's defense arsenal and she does it convincingly. She has a reputation after all and to hell is she going to let the cracks in her mask show. He humors her and nods back gravely before continue trekking towards the tomb's opening. He needs to stay focus for the task at hand.

The fireworks don't seem quite as impressive tonight even though they are bigger than ever. Everything has a sense of finality to it, making it muted and grey and less spectacular. It is all so surreal and Blair barely registers the tomb door slowly creaking its way open in her daze. Damon doesn't waste time and slips through the gap. The flames from Emily's spell die down to a mere smolder and suddenly she feels infinitely lonely without the flashing lights and chanting to distract her. There's nothing else left to do now, but to wait. Emily takes her hand and gives it a comforting squeeze.

"He'll be back."

She nods in return, keeping her eyes glued to the entrance of the tomb.

xxx

Inside, the tomb is dark and damp with a putrid rotting smell in the air that clings to Damon's nostrils. The torch in his hand shines an eerie orange glow on everything and seems to intensify the feeling of death and decay. He overturns so many corpses, hoping that it is and isn't her every time. He pushes his way past the carcasses of once formidable creatures of the night and finally, in the last place he looks, amongst the ruins he finds her.

She's all skin and bones, her once lustrous hair is now matted and tangled, her face almost skull like. She's not the great beauty that he remembered her to be. He doesn't care. She's the only one left that has survived and that must mean something.

He sweeps her into his arms and she barely registers what's going on, her head lolling to one side. He quickly moves to cushion it against his shoulder and stands up carefully, afraid that the slightest bit of movement could break her bones or worse yet, snap her neck. He's quite sure she won't be able to heal in her state. The only sign that shows she's even savable is the fact that she shivered in his embrace. When they step outside, she lets out a soft moan and trembles from the cold, he holds her as tight as he dares without hurting her.

From fifteen feet away, Blair's heart begins to pound at the sight of them emerging from the darkness. She wants to run to him, but she doesn't. She's rooted to her spot.

Katherine begins to regain some awareness once they made it outside. Her eyelids are dry and as thin as paper and when they start to flutter open, he uses one hand to shield her face from the cold night wind. She looks up at him and for a moment he thinks he sees disappoint flash in her eyes, but then she raises a skeleton hand to caress his cheek and everything is forgotten.

"Damon… I knew you'd come for me..." Katherine rasps.

"Don't talk. You need your strength," he answers, setting her on the ground, his arms still around her to support her.

"I need blood."

Katherine sniffs the air, her arms outstretched as if she could physically grasp the scent. Her eyes fall on Blair's figure from afar and a small tongue darts out to wet her dry parched lips. "You brought me a human…"

"What?" He turns to see where she's looking and sees Blair's worried face in the distance. "No-"

He's surprised by her sudden show of strength. Before Damon can stop her and before Blair could register the parched vampire launching itself at her, Katherine has sunk her teeth into Blair's neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Phew! A lot of things are happening in this chapter and I hope I gave them all the proper amount of attention they all deserved. I had a bit of trouble writing the Nate and Chuck scene and tying up the loose ends of the whole Serena-Nate debacle, so sorry if it sounds a bit awkward. I was having trouble juggling so many characters and so I had to "write off" characters so to speak for the moment. _ Anyways, yes I left off on another cliffhanger… please don't hate me! It's my cheap trick for keeping your interest in reading more! =P Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed it and I promise to get the next chapter out soon. Thank you all loyal readers!


	13. Chapter 13

As her fangs sink into porcelain skin and the metallic taste of blood hits her tongue, a smile broadens across Katherine's face. The smug delight is short lived. It takes a split second for her eyes to widen as the blood to completely fill her mouth and burn like acid.

She abruptly pushes herself off the girl and collapses in a heap onto the floor. Her hands grip her throat as if she could physically stop the burning with them. She coughs and coughs, trying to rid herself of the noxious blood, but the burning sensation remains. It seems to have a paralyzing effect as it burns its way down her throat. Her fangs have retracted of their own accord and all the muscles in her body seem to be painfully contracting simultaneously as the human's blood enters her system despite her attempts to expel it.

Blair stands stunned, her hand reaching for her bleeding neck, her eyes trained on the female vampire convulsing on the grassy floor, desperately gasping for air.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Damon cries rushing to the scene, albeit late.

The wound is shallow and so Blair nods numbly in reply, one hand pressing on her wound. He moves her hand away to look at the bite mark clearly. It's shallow and Blair seemed more stunned than anything. Sure that Blair would be fine, Damon crouches by the writhing Katherine and attempts to calm her down. Katherine continues to retch and cough Blair's blood into the grass. Damon reaches into his jacket to take out a pouch of blood kindly pilfered from the nearby hospital to offer her, but Katherine weakly slaps it away.

"You poisoned me!" she accuses.

"I didn't. I don't know what happened. You weren't supposed to drink from her, this human is my friend."

"Not your complimentary free meal," Blair cheekily remarks.

Damon gives her a look as if to say "You're not helping" and Blair gives him back a glare that reads "She tried to eat me. I will be as bitchy as I want."

Katherine empties her stomach's contents via bloody vomit in the grass and wipes her mouth with the back of the hand. Blair is severely grossed out and doesn't put any effort from letting the disgust show on her face. The vampire looks even worse than before, which Blair didn't think was possible.

"Here, drink this instead," Damon proffers Katherine the bag of blood once again. "It is fine, I swear."

Katherine is suspicious, but she takes the pouch from his extended hand. The taste of Blair's blood still manages to cling to the back of her throat, making her feel sick, but Katherine understands survival well. She sniffs the blood offered to her as if she could smell the poison. Her fangs refuse to extend and so she has trouble puncturing the bag. Damon has to do it for her and after a cautious sip she begins to hungrily devour the contents. Blair cringes at the indecent spectacle.

"Geez, not a very pretty sight is she?"

"She's been starved," Damon answers.

Katherine tosses the empty bag to the floor and doesn't bother to wipe the blood dripping from her mouth. The pilfered blood had helped, and she looks a bit better, or as good as any undead being could be anyhow.

"There's something wrong with this human," Katherine hisses, giving Blair the evil eye.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Blair counters.

"She's an Immune," Emily injects, appearing from behind them.

No one had noticed her until then and so she had been a silent observer of the entire episode. The effect of Blair's blood on the vampiric species and the implications doesn't escape her.

"Immunes," Katherine sneers, "are a myth."

"Yeah… kind of like vampires and witches, right?" Blair taunts back.

"Blair," Damon chides, handing Katherine another bag of blood swiped from the local Red Cross.

"What? She's the one trying to deny my existence. Kind of closed minded, don't you think? Not to mention ironic."

In between glaring at the Immune and devouring the hospital's supply of blood, Katherine eyes the olive skinned witch up and down.

"Emily, is that you? You look different."

"Of course she does. It's been nearly 200 years," Blair snidely answers.

The female vampire glowers at her and snarls, before turning her attention back on Damon.

"Damon… I'm still hungry," Katherine whines after finishing her third bag of blood. Blair scrunches up her nose at the vamp's baby voice and rolls her eyes.

Katherine's appearance starts to rapidly recover as the human blood hits her system. The skeleton-like figure was slowly fleshing out and looking more and more like Elena and less like a corpse by the second. It was quite unnerving.

"Emily, go fetch me something clean to change into while Damon gets me some more blood," she demands.

Emily narrows her eyes and stays put beside Blair.

"Emily," Katherine repeats, her own eyes quickly narrowing as her thin hand reaches for the pendant around her neck.

She gives the pendant a little twist and Emily/Bonnie's face contorts with pain as her body jerks forward. Blair is quickly by her side.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing with that little pendant of yours!" Blair confronts Katherine.

The vampire ignores her and keeps her eyes trained on the witch kneeling on the floor.

"Emily," Katherine calls with a falsely sweet voice. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Y-yes..." Emily replies through gritted teeth.

"Yes, what?" Katherine demands.

Emily exchanges an angry glare at Damon as if to remind him about her earlier threats of turning the newly rescued vampire into ash if she had the chance. Those threats seem very close to reality right now.

"Katherine," Damon tries.

Katherine brushes him away and gives the pendant another good twist. Emily lurches forward from the pain once again.

"Yes. Mistress," Emily bites out.

The female vampire smiles a self-satisfied smile and Blair immediately decides that Katherine Pierce is a total bitch.

xxx

They agree to stow Katherine in the Salvatore's attic for the time being. The basement would have been more suitable, but since Stefan had remodeled it the previous year Damon doesn't want to put her in such a prison-like environment, especially since she just escaped from one. Bonnie and Emily agreed to cast a spell on the room so that Stefan wouldn't notice the newest house guest at the Salvatore house. The young Salvatore doesn't have much reason to go up there anyways, so they hope keeping a low profile would be enough until they find a better housing situation.

Katherine is suspicious of everything, but she's determined to conquer all of the technologies of the modern world. She makes Emily run about fetching her things while Damon gave her a brief history lesson on what had happened in the past hundred and fifty years.

For all of Katherine's bravado, she doesn't stay conscious for very long and falls asleep after her sixth bag of blood. Emily rolls her eyes and declares "Finally!" in an exasperated tone.

Katherine would never willingly hand over her amulet, even if Emily did save her, so they don't feel any need to tell her about the witch's part of the deal. That leaves the only option for obtaining the amulet was to steal it. Blair's the only one able to even touch the amulet due to the specifications of the spell and so she's left the task of securing the necklace from the slumbering monster.

"She's not going to be happy with you when all this is over," Blair points out to Damon.

"She won't be happy, but she'll be here," Damon replies, watching Katherine sleep. "That's what matters."

She can't quite read his expression and it makes her uneasy. Why does the way he watch the sleeping Katherine bother her so much? She thought she already set her feelings straight. Damon Salvatore and Blair Waldorf are friends. No more, no less. She shouldn't be having inappropriate feelings towards him, let alone pinpricks of jealousy. It was ridiculous!

She's setting herself up for more heartbreak at the rate she's going and she quite tired of getting her heart broken. Blair Waldorf's heart will stay perfectly intact for the time being, thank you very much. She's not going to go about giving it away willy-nilly anytime soon. Especially not to somebody who clearly has a lot of emotional baggage with his long-lost homicidal, blood sucking girlfriend.

Still… for a while he was hers, even if it's only in the friendship capacity.

She is shaken from her troubling thoughts when Katherine snores in her sleep. A laugh escapes Blair's lips before she could help it. Damon frowns at her, but his amusement reads clear in his eyes.

"Are you sure it's worth it?" Blair jibes. "She's such a… bitch," Blair finishes dramatically.

"Bitchy girls seem to be my type. Present company included," he replies, smiling at her flirtatiously.

She finds herself blushing at his comment and is immediately horrified. When did she become the idiotic fawning schoolgirl? She covers up her slipup by rambling on how hot air rises which explains the hot temperature in attics. Her flimsy excuses earn her a quirked eyebrow and an amused grin, but he doesn't comment.

"Anyway, personally I think you could've done better," she concludes gesturing at the dozing Katherine.

"I believe that's what I said about Nate."

There's a flicker of pain that flashes across her face despite her efforts to remain nonchalant. He immediately regrets his thoughtless words. It's still too early for the wounds to completely scab over.

"Anyways, Katherine's snoring doesn't even compare to yours. I could hear it all the way from the den last night."

She knows this is a lie because last night after their sodidnotactuallyhappen kiss, she had not slept a wink, but she realizes he's just trying to lighten the mood. It's a backhanded apology for letting his tongue slip and so she doesn't correct him.

She makes a comment about how he's a jerk and that he and Katherine deserved each other. Even as the insult escapes her mouth, she wishes it weren't so. She doesn't want to see him with Katherine, because she wants him to be with her. Romantically or not, she selfishly wants Damon by her side. She realizes this too late of course, but she feels it all the same.

He says something back that she doesn't quite hear due to all her internal turmoil so she answers back in a glare because he's Damon and it was probably a safe bet that he said something snarky and condescending. They glower at each other like that for a while before getting back to business. Emily is waiting downstairs after all and she wouldn't like to be kept waiting for Damon and Blair to finish their banter (which never really ends once they start).

There's a moment when Katherine stirs in her sleep and Blair is afraid to even breathe lest she makes a noise. Damn vampires and their super hearing! This must be how Odysseus felt tiptoeing around a sleeping homicidal Cyclops. She glares back at Damon for making her do this in the first place and he merely nods his head to encourage her to continue. The saying "easier said than done" comes to mind and Blair regrets having agreed to play the thief.

The second time Katherine shifts, Blair had recoiled in shock and in the process stubbed her toe on an uneven floorboard. She muffles her pain by pressing her hand against her mouth. This time she whips around to face Damon, narrows her eyes and mouths "I hate you" to him. He looks almost amused at her antics and blows her an air kiss before waving her on. The cocky bastard.

Once Blair's back was turn to him, Damon's smiling façade is replaced with seriousness. Blair doesn't realize that despite his cavalier attitude, the idea of putting her in such a precarious situation makes him uneasy. He swallows nervously as her hands creep closer and closer to Katherine's neck. He clenches his jaw as her fingers circle around the clasp of the necklace and if he were a normal human being he would have had a heart attack at the rate his heart was beating as he watched her lift the chain off of Katherine. She somehow manages to free the pendant from around the vampire's neck and he finally allows himself to unclench the fist at his side.

Blair breathes a silent sigh of relief and gives Damon an accomplished smile. She indicates with her hands that she's going to bring the necklace to Emily downstairs and he nods in agreement. Before she mounts the stairs she looks back to see Damon walk over to the slumbering Katherine and hover over her with a longing look on his face. She never felt so lonely and clenches the necklace in her fist as she makes her descent. She doesn't know that once her back is turned, he's giving her that same look.

xxx

Emily is nervous as she draws her witchy circles in chalk on the wooden floorboards. Her hands are shaking and the symbols are messy, but legible. Or they would be legible if Blair could read them.

"Just place it over here," Emily instructs her, gesturing to the center of the pentagram inside the circle.

She does as she is told whilst the witch hovers about.

"Don't be so nervous. You're about to become a free woman," she jokes lightly.

Truth be told, Blair is equally nervous and she doesn't really want to do this. She had become uncharacteristically attached to the Bennett witches and was sorry to see them go. Once this is all over, there would be no more reason for them to meet anymore. It's not like they were friends or anything, even if she'd like them to be. Though if anyone ever asks her she would deny deny deny. Blair has a reputation to maintain after all. But she misses the female companionship now that she and Serena were on the outs. A sudden rush of dejection washes over her. Emily's constant nervous pacing doesn't help matters.

"For god's sake, calm down!" she exclaims in a hushed whisper. Whether the advice was for herself or the witch, the fact is unclear.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"It will. This is what you've been working for. It'll all turn out fine. I promise."

"You promise?" Emily repeats stopping mid-step and shooting Blair an amused smile. It was a very un-Blair-like thing to comfort someone.

"Yes. And Waldorfs don't make promises lightly," Blair answers flippantly. She hides her feelings behind her usual brand of haughtiness and arrogance.

Emily gives her genuine smile and then exhales loudly before regaining her composure.

"Okay. Let's get started."

She raises her hand as if to begin, but then stops.

"Before… before I go. There's something important I have to tell you. It's about Immunes."

Blair rolls her eyes even though she's secretly glad for any sort of postponement.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Your blood. Do you remember what happened when Katherine tried to drink it?"

"Yeah, she couldn't. It made her sick."

Emily shakes her head slowly. "No. It didn't just make her sick. Don't you remember? She hadn't been able to extend her fangs to even drink from that bag of blood. Damon had to do it for her. I think that when she took your blood, she lost her powers."

"W-what does this mean? I can… neutralize her?"

"Yes. And if that's true, then that ability might come in handy one day. I just thought you should know."

Blair is lost for a moment in the implications of her new found gift. On the bright side, it makes her in a way invulnerable to supernatural threats. She won't be the damsel in distress. She has her own method of defense this way. On the other side…It was also a bit frightening. Maybe there was a reason why Immunes are practically extinct. With such abilities they become a threat to the supernatural community. It makes her a target.

"Hey, Blair?"

She's startled back into reality. "Y-yeah?"

"There was something else I wanted to say to you.

"Something more important that the fact that I can defuse a rampaging approximately four hundred year old* vampire with my blood?" she replies sardonically.

"Yes," Emily replies in an equally sarcastic manner.

"What is it?"

She's curious as to what could possibly trump Emily earlier revelation.

"Thank you. For everything."

Before she could come up with a response to the surprising thank you, Emily raises her hands up and smashes the amulet with a rock. Sparks fly everywhere and the unlit candles around them violently bursts into flames. A random thought about witches and their need to put on a fireworks show every time they cast a spell runs through Blair's head before everything is blocked out by a bright white light. She puts her hand up to shield her eyes, but it's as if the light could penetrate her eyelids. In a room upstairs dark eyes flash open just as Blair closes hers from the blinding light.

Blair is left momentarily sightless, but as her vision begins to clear she can make out a single female figure kneeling besides the shards of what remained of Katherine's amulet, her eyes closed and her head hung down.

"Emily? Emily! Are you alright?"

As in answer to her question, the witch collapses on the floor. Blair gives her eyes one last rub with the back of her hand and rushes to the witch's side, cradling the other girl's head into her lap. After several moments, the witch stirs and it is Bonnie who looks up at her.

"Is… Emily gone?" Bonnie asks, rubbing her temple and sitting up.

Her eyes were no longer haunted by the ghost of her ancestor and Blair is left blinking in shock at how quickly and easily Emily had disappeared from her life.

"Yeah… she is."

"Forever?"

"I… I don't know."

Bonnie is looking at her strangely and she doesn't know why. Blair flinches when the teen witch reaches for cheek. The witch's hand comes away wet and she realizes she was crying without knowing it.

"How embarrassing! I don't even know why I'm crying. You're free now. The curse is gone," Blair smiles as she erases the evidence of her emotional lapse.

"It's okay to be sad, Blair. You don't have to hide it. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss her too."

Before Blair can reply with a lie about how she doesn't care that Emily is gone and she only in it for her own selfish reasons, the door behind them flies open. Blair whips around to find an enraged vampire towering over her.

"You little bitch! You stole my amulet!" Katherine snarls.

Katherine lunges at Blair, but is pulled back by Damon, her elongated nails narrowly missing Blair's throat.

"Let me go! I'm going to rip her throat out! Emily was mine!"

"Back off!" Bonnie warns, pushing Blair behind her, her left hand igniting with witch's fire. "The Bennett witches aren't slaves to anyone. I'll burn you where you stand if you come any closer, vampire."

"I'll get you for this you stupid human!" Katherine growls while struggling against Damon's hold.

"Welcome to the 21st century. Slavery has been abolished. Get with the program!" Blair retorts.

"Don't taunt her!" Damon scolds Blair. Katherine tries to break free from his hold, but he hangs on tight. "You're not going to hurt her! It was part of the deal to free you!"

Katherine whips around at him, turning her rage on him. "What?"

"Did you really think the witch helped me open the tomb out of the goodness of her heart?"

"But she was mine," Katherine hisses.

"There's a price for everything, Katherine. Would you rather still be stuck in that tomb, rotting away?"

Katherine bits her tongue and continues to glare at Damon. She stamps her feet against the wooden floorboards, cracking and splintering them with her strength and pushes past him to exit the room. Damon watches her leave with a forlorn gaze. Once Katherine rounds the corner he turns his attention back to Blair and Bonnie. His eyes are pleading, though pleading for what Blair is not sure.

"Go after her," Blair sighs. "She might kill somebody if you don't."

He clenches his jaw, enough to draw blood, before he takes off after Katherine. Despite her encouragement, Blair can't help but feel disappointed to see him go.

xxx

Katherine busies herself throwing and smashing things. She had expected things to pick up where they left off once she was freed from that dreadful dirt prison that was the tomb, but everything had changed. There were boxes that showed moving pictures, things that would beep and buzz, voices that came out of little metal rectangles. Time had stopped for Katherine in that tomb. In her conceit and vanity, she never realized that the world would have moved on without her. Damon wasn't even the same, he never would have bargained with the help if it had two hundred years ago. There's such a thing as class distinction! The stupid slave wouldn't have dared rebel back then. And now there's some Immune bitch nipping at Damon's heels, stealing away his attention from her. Stefan wasn't even there.

That was the most jarring thing about all the time that had past. Katherine had always believed that it would have been the young Salvatore brother who would have freed her from the tomb. If anything he was the one most responsible for getting her thrown in there in the first place. The least he could do was break her out of it. She had spent the last 100+ years thinking that it would have been Stefan. It should've been Stefan. But then again, if it had been Stefan, perhaps her thoughts would have been that it should've been Damon. Katherine is a girl who usually wants what she doesn't have. But since it was Damon who freed her, her mind is childishly fixated on the fact that she lost the younger Salvatore.

As her thoughts strayed to Stefan Salvatore she spots him approaching the Salvatore mansion from across the front lawn, with a girl in tow no less. Upon closer inspection she realizes the remarkable resemblance between herself and the brunette Stefan was kissing. Her fragile strength decides to fail on her at this moment and she feels her knees buckling. She catches herself before she hits the floor. She's still too weak from her stint in the tomb. One night's rest and half a dozen bags of blood was not enough to restore her to her former glory. Her weakness serves to fuel her frustration and she slams the floor with her fists, but end up hurting herself.

Damon chooses this moment to announce his presence and she whirls on him.

"Look, I know a lot of things have changed," Damon begins.

Katherine laughs mockingly in reply from her position on the floor. "Oh yes, a lot of things have changed and they're about to change even more now that I'm back."

Damon interprets her reply as a threat and it makes him ill at ease. Katherine pushes herself back up to standing position and moves over to the window. Looking back down she spots the two lovers caught in an embrace outside the mansion and a malicious smile spreads on her lips. Damon notices where her eyes are trained and the implication dawns on him.

"Katherine," he warns.

"What?" She replies angrily.

"It's been nearly two hundred years, Katherine. He wasn't going to wait for you forever."

It hurts that she was still looking after Stefan even though he's done everything for her.

"But you did," Katherine answers smoothly. She sidles up close to him and places a cold kiss on his lips. "You did, Damon. And rest assured… you'll be rewarded for your dedication."

She brushes back his hair and strokes his cheek with a slender finger.

"After I get back at Stefan."

"Why aren't I enough?" he asks. He can't stand it anymore. He's sick of sharing. He wants someone who'll only look at him. "I'm here. I've always been here. Let me be enough!"

Why was it that he wasn't enough? Why is it that even now, when he has sacrificed so much for her, gave her everything he could possibly give, he was still not enough? He had naively believed that once he freed her she would finally choose him. It was the ultimate romantic gesture after all. He waited for her, searched for her, and loved her for a hundred and fifty years. He thought that's what she would've been satisfied with that much. He's quickly finding himself oh so wrong. Katherine is never truly satisfied. She lives in a world where the grass is always greener on the other side and so her greed is endless.

"Your brother was the reason why I got thrown into that hellhole. I'm not going to let him live out his little fairytale happy ending with my doppelganger," she replies angrily. Just as quickly she changes her frown into a syrupy sweet smile. "We'll have our time, Damon. But first, I have to deal with Stefan."

It's totally sappy and un-Damon-like, but he doesn't want any more revenge or diabolical master plans now that he's finally accomplished his task. It was time to let things go. There's no more point to torturing Stefan. He doesn't want to waste any more time on making Stefan miserable when he had Katherine by his side once more.

"I don't want revenge. Let's leave this place! Forget Stefan, forget Mystic Falls. We'll find a little corner of the earth, somewhere quiet and secluded, where we can just be together. You could be happy!"

Katherine laughs, moving away from him and perching herself on the windowsill to watch Stefan wave goodbye to Elena. Her eyes follow Elena as she makes her way back to Caroline's car. Once her double disappears from sight, she turns her attention back on Damon.

"I forgot how funny you were, Damon. Where's the fun in that? I've spent the last few centuries in 'someplace quiet and secluded,'" she mocks him. "Now… I want to go paint the city red."

xxx

Despite what Katherine had threatened, she spent the next couple of days relatively quiet and even cooperative. She just hides up in the attic, drinks the blood he gets for her and assimilating herself with the modern world. In hindsight, that should've been the first warning.

Bonnie had asked to meet Damon and Blair at the Grill and so they had obliged her. Katherine had promised not leave the mansion and since she had long since lost her ring, it wasn't like she could walk about during the daytime anyways (Coppertone hasn't come up with a sunscreen with high enough UV protection to allow vampires to walk in the daytime yet). Given his past experiences, Damon should've realized then that she had made the promise too easily.

"What did you call us here for, witch? Our partnership is over. You can hate my guts again," Damon says cheekily as he slides into the booth across from Bonnie.

"It's not over until you figure out what to do with Katherine. So until then I will have to just restrain myself from setting you on fire," Bonnie replies.

This was something Blair herself was also thinking about. What was Damon planning on doing now that he has Katherine back? It feels like the relationship between her and Damon were quickly coming to a close. She was just a third wheel now that the long lost girlfriend was back.

"You just let me handle Katherine, alright?" Damon answers curtly.

"She enslaved my family for ages. Who knows what else she has up her sleeve. I'm not just going to let her do whatever the hell she wants."

Their conversation is cut short when Elena walks into the bar with Caroline and spots them. The pair makes their way over, an uneasy smile on Elena's face.

"What are you guys all doing here?" she asks.

The trio exchange glances.

"It's strange to see you willingly be in the same room as Damon, let alone speak with him," Elena questions Bonnie.

"I was talking to Bonnie," Blair answers smoothly when Bonnie became tongue-tied. "Damon just happened to be with me at the time. Didn't you know? Bonnie and I have become fast friends after that Halloween party."

Bonnie nods enthusiastically and Damon just smiles back at her infuriatingly.

"I see…"

Elena doesn't quite believe them.

"What are you doing here?" Blair shoots back turning the tables on Elena. Better to be the interrogator than the interrogated.

"Oh. I'm working on a project with Caroline for English."

"On what?" Blair fakes curiosity.

"Shakespeare…" Elena replies cautiously.

"And we better get started. I'm supposed to meet Matt at six so hopefully we'd finish by then," Caroline adds.

"Yeah, you guys go. We'll catch up later okay?" Bonnie says with an urging smile.

Blair and Damon, too, both shoot Elena convincing smiles to urge the brunette away.

"A-Alright…"

Elena gives the three one last perplexed look before retreating with Caroline to a distant corner to work on their project. Once Elena was out of earshot the trio all let their muscles relax.

"Now, where were we?" Bonnie starts.

"You were going about whining about Katherine and how she enslaved your family and whatnot and I was going to tell you to stick it," Damon replies derisively.

As the witch opens her mouth to come back with an equally biting riposte Damon's phone rings. The witch glares at Damon as he reaches to answer it.

"It's Stefan. I should take it. He might have had an accident and killed a gym teacher or something."**

Bonnie is not amused and turns to Blair in exasperation. Blair is used to Damon's antics and has learned that if you just humor him things actually get done faster so she shrugs her shoulders in reply.

Damon flicks open his phone, mocking smile playing on his lips. "Hello, brother. What can I not do for you?"

"Hey, you're at the Grill right? I left my wallet there last night. Do you think you can get it back for me?"

"What am I? Your fetching boy?" Damon snarks.

"It's just a little favor, Damon," Stefan sighs from the other end of the line.

"If I start doing you favors, then everyone is going to start asking me for favors. It's a slippery slope!"

"Damon, please. You're over there anyways. Elena gave it to me and I don't want her to know I lost it."

"Dude, she's got you so whipped."

He hears some background noise and an undecipherable voice in the background coming from Stefan's line.

"Hey, I gotta go, Elena just showed up. Remember to get my wallet, okay?"

Before Damon could come up with a witty retort, Stefan had hung up.

Damn Stefan and his idiotic notions of sibling love and kitty cats and rainbows. Damon had a reputation to uphold and here Stefan was running about treating him as if he really turned over a new leaf and was an all-around good citizen. The indignity of it all is soon overshadowed by the strangeness of Stefan's parting words. Did Stefan just say Elena had shown up? At the Salvatore house? That couldn't be possible.

"What was that about?" Blair asks.

"Stefan wants me to get his wallet for him from the bar… he hung up because Elena came over."

"Elena?" Bonnie repeats, her eyebrows knitting together in puzzlement. "But Elena's over there…"

All three members of the table turn towards the back corner of the bar and there she was. Elena Gilbert was sitting with Caroline Forbes talking animatedly about Macbeth and Henry VIII.

"But, if Elena is here… then who's with Stefan?" Blair asks the question that they all are thinking.

Over at the Salvatore mansion, Stefan smiles at his girlfriend who had unexpectedly came to visit him.

xxx

"I thought you were working on a project with Caroline today. We weren't supposed to meet till later tonight."

"Caroline cancelled," Katherine lies easily. "Your door was open so I let myself in." She wraps her arms around his waist and he presses a soft kiss on her forehead. "I missed you and I couldn't wait."

"I missed you, too. Even though we saw each other only a few hours ago at school," he teases.

"A few hours… to me it seemed like a hundred and fifty years," Katherine says truthfully.

"One hundred and fifty years. Such a specific length of time," Stefan jokes.

"Well… give or a take a couple of hours," Katherine replies flirtatiously.

Stefan smiles indulgently at his girlfriend. "Sorry about the dark living room, Damon must have forgotten to open up the blinds. I'll go pull them back."

"No," Katherine says a little too fast. "I like the darkness."

"Really? You're always telling me how creepy the house gets in the dark."

"Well… I've changed my mind. I think it's the perfect lighting… Especially when I want to do this…" she finishes her sentence by kissing him full on the lips.

"You're acting weird today," Stefan declares, smiling into the kiss.

"Am I?" Katherine traces his jaw with a finger and places a soft kiss right under his left ear. "Do you not like it?"

Stefan laughs. "I'm not complaining."

Katherine moves her arms around his neck and leans in close so that their noses were touching.

"Do you… love me?" she asks in soft voice.

It's a loaded question.

"I love you," Stefan says easily as he resumes their kiss.

Katherine pulls away and looks at the young Salvatore straight in the eye. "Who do you love? Say it," she demands.

Stefan laughs again and smiles as he leans in to whisper in her ear. "Elena Gilbert."

Stefan notices a strange look his girlfriend's eyes, but is soon distracted when she crashes her lips into his and pining his arms behind him. She kisses him roughly, all tongue and teeth. It's not the way she usually kisses him. He has a passing thought that her mouth rather oddly cold against his despite their heated exchange, but is once again sidetracked when she pushes him down against the sofa. She smirks at the surprised look in his face.

"What has gotten in to you?" he chuckles.

"I feel good today… and I want you to feel good with me," she says teasingly. She plays with the buttons on his shirt, her hands moving seductively up and down his chest and then pausing at the bottommost button. "Should I stop?"

"Don't stop." Stefan reaches for her face to draw her back into a kiss.

His shirt is made quick work of and tossed carelessly aside. As Stefan moves to place his hands around her waist, Katherine grabs them and pins them back against the couch.

"Nuh uh," she says with a mischievous smile. "I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes."

Stefan smiles back at her, still attempting to move his arms, but she holds them back forcefully. When did Elena get so strong?

"I said close you eyes," she commands.

He's puzzled, but obliges. Once Stefan's eyes have fluttered shut, Katherine's previous smiling face quickly turns into a scowl.

"Don't open them until I tell you to," she whispers into his ear.

She trails her mouth across his cheek and finds his lips and once again engages in kissing him. At one point she bites down his bottom lip hard. It's enough to draw blood. Stefan winces and tries to move his hands once again, but he can't move them at all. Elena couldn't possibly be so strong. Something was wrong here. His eyes flash open to the sight of who he had thought was his girlfriend licking his blood from her fangs, her eyes darkened by veins.

"Oh my god, Katherine," he breathes, his eyes wide.

"Hello, Stefan. Surprise," Katherine taunts.

xxx

The moment they figured out what happened all three members of the Tomb Initiative had gotten to their feet and speeding towards the Salvatore mansion.

Damon breaks the heavy oak door open to reveal a bloody mouthed Katherine sitting on top of a half naked Stefan pined to the couch.

"Get off of him!"

Katherine hisses in response and raises her hand in a feral gesture, ready to plunge it through the young Stefan's chest and rip out his heart. In a split second, Damon is by her side, his hand gripping her arm, holding her back.

"Let him go!"

"He's the reason I was put into the tomb!" she snarls.

"He's my brother!"

"So what?" she throws back viciously.

With one hand gripping Stefan's neck to keep him pined down on the cough Katherine shoves Damon away with her other. He's surprised by the amount of strength she's regained from just the past few days. He goes crashing into a desk, breaking it in half in the process. Katherine turns her attention back to the younger Salvatore. Before she can go through with murdering Stefan, Bonnie knocks her off him with a stunning spell. It doesn't last long. Katherine has been recovering for a total of four days already and given her age and power, she bounces back quickly. Unlike humans, vampires get stronger with time. Stefan had managed to scramble to his feet only to have Katherine plunge her hand through his stomach, missing his lungs by millimeters. She smiling as she watches blood drips down his mouth. She rips out her hand and licks it clean as Stefan falls to the floor.

"No!" Damon cries out and tackles Katherine out of the way.

They engage in a struggle as Bonnie rushes over to Stefan's side to inspect the wound. Given Stefan's dietary habits, the wound is slow to heal.

"He's bleeding a lot! We need to stop the bleeding!" Bonnie declares, her hand pressed against Stefan's gaping wound.

"Get away from him! I want him to bleed!" Katherine cries from the other side of the room, dropping her hold of Damon so that he slides down the wall with a thud. She's his senior and maker so he's no match for her.

Blair looks to her left and spots the wooden dining chairs. Glancing back to her right she watches Damon try and hold back Katherine while Bonnie tended to Stefan. Without another thought, Blair marches over to the chairs, grabs one of them and proceeds to smash it against the floor, breaking off the legs in the process. She chooses a particularly sturdy pointy piece and smiles.

Bonnie aims another stunning spell towards the she-vampire, but Katherine dodges and launches herself towards the witch in her efforts to get to Stefan. After some struggle, Bonnie manages to push Katherine off of herself and into the opposite wall, but breaks her wrist in the process. Katherine whips around to finish what she started, but stops short when a sudden paralyzing pain shoots through her abdomen.

"Don't. Move," Blair orders.

Katherine looks down to see end of dining chair leg poking through her midriff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Just incase anyone was curious, according to Vampire Diaries Wikia (.com/wiki/Katherine_Pierce), Katherine was born in 1614 which would make her 396 years old.
> 
> ** Referring to how Damon killed the football coach in 1.02: Friday Night Bites and Bonnie was having visions of the numbers that suppose to have predicted it.
> 
> A/N: I was planning on updating earlier, but I accidently deleted part of this chapter last night so I had to rewrite parts of it. So there might be some mistakes that I have overlooked. SORRY! Still, I'm quite satisfied with the pacing of this chapter. =) Lots of things happened and it sets it up very well for some more action in the next chapter which I hope to get out probably on Saturday or Sunday night *fingers crossed*. On another note… WOW! 100+ reviews! This never happened to me before and I just want to say thanks to all the people who have reviewed or commented on this fic! I wouldn't be able to write it without all of your wonderful encouragement! =D Thanks soooo much! 3 3 3 I hope you continue to support me and my writing!


	14. Chapter 14

"Y-you!" Katherine bites out angrily in between clenched teeth, swiping at Blair's face weakly, but missing.

She had been too busy fending off the witch and Damon that she never thought of the little human girl as a threat. She had underestimated Damon's little pet. She tries to move forward, but the wood has a stronger effect than she anticipated and has paralyzed her so she merely falls heavily against the half smashed antique bureau.

"I said don't move," Blair replies with condescending calm.

Damon helps Stefan get to his feet, the latter's wound was slowly closing, but painfully so.

"Are you alright?" Damon asks to which Blair nods reassuringly.

"How did you know what to do?" Bonnie has also picked herself up and was moving towards where Blair stood over Katherine's immobilized body, cradling her wrist against her chest.

"Isn't that what they do in the movies?" Blair replies with a shrug. "Stake to the heart? Of course I missed. I'll work better on my aim next time."

Katherine gives a low guttural growl in response.

"One stake shouldn't be enough to stop a vampire of Katherine's age," Stefan manages in between groans. "How did you get it work?"

Blair holds up her left hand to show them a deep bloody gash cutting through her palm from between the thumb and index finger to where her wrist begins.

"You used your blood," Bonnie whispers.

Blair nods solemnly. "I wasn't sure if it was going to work if she didn't ingest it, but I thought it was worth a shot."

"You could've gotten yourself killed," Stefan scolds. He had beaten Damon to the punch.

"I saved your ass! If you just kept it in your pants we wouldn't even be in this predicament in the first place!"

Blair stops her rant when she notices Elena, breathless at the front door.

"Oh my god!"

Damon groans and Stefan looks beyond mortified.

"Well isn't this just wonderful," Blair mutters under her breath. "Just what we needed… Stefan's girlfriend in the same room as his maniacal bloodthirsty Ex."

"Oh my god!" Elena repeats.

"I heard you the first time, Elena. No need to repeat yourself," Damon calls out.

Blair rolls her eyes at him, but they both share a smirk while Stefan shoots them disapproving looks.

"Elena, what are you doing here?" Bonnie begins, moving over to comfort her hysterical friend.

"I followed you! You guys just ran out of there like the place was on fire and you were all being really weird. I just- Oh my god! Stefan you're bleeding!"

She rushes to her boyfriend, tears welling in her eyes. Her hand hovers over the gaping hole in the middle of Stefan's stomach.

"I'm alright. I'm alright," Stefan repeats over and over, pressing his forehead against hers and smoothing away her tears with the pads of his thumbs.

From the corner Katherine makes a gagging noise. Elena breaks away from Stefan and meets her lookalike face to face for the first time.

"Is-Is that Katherine? Did she do this to you?"

"Please, you'd probably stab him too if you knew what he was doing with me just a few minutes ago," Katherine injects cattily with a wicked smile.

"You… you're Katherine?"

"The one and only," she replies arrogantly. "And you must be Elena. I've heard so much about you."

"Don't talk to her."

Stefan tries to pull his girlfriend away, but she's resists him. She can't tear her gaze away form her double. Katherine looks her up and down and raises one perfect eyebrow.

"I was really curious who Stefan got to replace me, but it seems like you're just a cheap knockoff. You do know that he's only interested in you because you look like me don't you?"

When Elena doesn't reply she laughs.

"What am I saying? Of course you do. I'm sure you're aware of our history."

"Katherine, stop," Stefan warns.

She ignores him and continues to smile smugly at Elena.

"And yet despite all that baggage, you're still here. I don't blame you. He has always been good in the sack hasn't he? I only just remembered how well right now myself," Katherine taunts, licking her lips. "Regular boys just don't compare. Have you gotten a taste of Damon yet?"

Blair opens her mouth to make a caustic remark, but Elena had pulled her hand back and slapped it hard across Katherine's face. Blair winces at the strength she put into that slap, but a smile slips from her. Katherine definitely deserved it.

Elena raises her hand to strike Katherine again, but this time Damon's there gripping her hand.

"I think that's enough."

With shove, Damon pushes Elena back to Stefan.

"She tried to kill Stefan!"

"I was there. I know," Damon states in a chilling calm tone. "But you touch her again and I'll make sure you regret it."

Blair flinches at the iciness of tone. She's never seen him like this before.

"We'll handle this Elena. You shouldn't be here," Stefan urges.

"No. You've guys have all been keeping me in the dark. She has my face! That means we're related somehow. I have a right to be here."

Damon goes down on one knee and wipes away the blood from Katherine's mouth. Blair watches as he dabs at her cheeks to wipe away a streak of dust. Katherine looks up at him and he pauses when their eyes meet.

"Funny how all of the sudden you've become my protector. Just moments ago you were on top of me with your hands around my throat. Then again, you always liked playing rough, don't you Damon?" Katherine jibes.

He doesn't say a word, but everything he's feeling can be read clearly on his face. The quiet rage, the betrayal, but most of all the longing. Even after all this, he's still so in love with her.

Katherine catches her watching their exchange and so she quickly averts her eyes.

"What are we going to do about her?" Bonnie says aloud, bringing the group's attention back to their main problem.

"The basement," Damon answers, turning his back to Katherine. "From what I recall from my lovely stay there, it should suffice."

Stefan nods in agreement, but Elena is not happy about it.

"No, I don't want her to be under the same roof as you. She tried to kill you, how do you know she won't try it again?" Elena argues.

"You don't," Katherine injects. One slap was not enough to shut her up, in fact she seems to relish the reaction she riled from her lookalike.

"Where would we put her then? At least here we can keep an eye on her," Blair points out, ignoring Katherine's snide little comments. "And where else would we find a vampire proof cell?"

"I agree. We can't have her running about around town." Bonnie adds.

"Maybe we should stick her back in the tomb where she belongs," Elena growls. "She was doing fine in there until you let her out," she accuses Damon.

"Do you mind saving your self-righteous accusations for later? We're trying to come up with some useful ideas right now," Damon counters.

"Let's just all calm down," Stefan tries to play the mediator. "We just need a place to keep her for tonight. The basement isn't a bad idea. The bars are pure iron and the lock is silver. We also have a supply of vervain in case she causes trouble."

"I'm right here. No need to talk as if I can't hear you," Katherine drawls.

"I think you'd do best to stay quiet," Damon snaps, fangs bared.

They're all a little shaken from his sudden temper and Katherine shuts up after that.

"It's getting late. We can't argue about this all night."

Blair's the only one brave enough to break the silence after Damon's outburst.

"The basement will do. At least for now," Stefan concludes. Turning to his girlfriend he adds, "You have a test tomorrow morning in first period, Elena. Just go home. I promise that I'll fill you in on everything later," Stefan cajoles.

"Come on. I'll take you home," Bonnie coaxes.

Elena looks back at Stefan, reluctant to leave, but he nods back at her.

"I'll call you later," Stefan assures her.

Elena finally relents and leaves with Bonnie.

xxx

They finally decide on the basement, shutting Katherine in the makeshift prison Stefan had made and leaving the basement window open so the sun would shine through and fence her in. Damon is very familiar with the place from his brief stint in there, but he never thought he would have reason to use it himself, and on Katherine no less.

"I need to see to Stefan. Go to your room and stay there, alright?" Damon whispers to Blair.

"And leave the crazy vampire alone? That sounds like a smart idea," Blair replies sarcastically.

"The sunlight should keep her from venturing out of the shadows and she's weaker now, but she's still dangerous."

"All the more reason she shouldn't be left alone. I can take care of myself. I was the one that stopped her after all."

"That was luck. She won't be so careless next time. Promise me that you'll stay put. Let me and Stefan handle it."

She looks back at him petulantly, but he refuses to budge until she agrees.

"Yeah, yeah. Just go already."

Damon glances back down at Katherine in her cell one more time before he shuts the door.

"Damon," Katherine calls from her cell. "You can't keep me in here, Damon! Damon!"

He doesn't answer her.

xxx

Damon finds Stefan sitting by the window wiping down the blood on his stomach with a dishtowel. He winces when he accidently reopens the wound. The gapping hole in his stomach has grown smaller, but since he hasn't had any human blood in so long the healing is crawling at snail speed. He looks up as he sees Damon approaching.

"I can't believe you had her here this entire time. How could I be so blind? I was so stupid."

"I can't argue with that," Damon replies glibly.

"So it was Katherine. As always. I thought you… the way you are with Blair. I thought for a second-"

He doesn't want to hear what Stefan thought about him and Blair. He has enough troublesome thoughts for the moment.

"We're going to leave."

"What?"

"I had originally planned to take her with me to New York after I opened the tomb. The plan has only been stalled because of Blair, but I guess it's time to go after all. Europe is nice this time of the year. You'll get what you want, little brother. I'm not coming after you any more. You can go on and live out the rest of your days peacefully without my homicidal threats hanging over your head."

"That… That was your big plan?"

Damon laughs softly. "It sounds a bit anti-climactic, doesn't it? What's the point of continuing to torture you? I have Katherine again. It's all that matters."

"She's not who you think she is. She's not that sweet girl you always thought she was."

"Katherine has been many things, but 'sweet' was not one of them," Damon laughs humorlessly. "But I love her anyways."

"I've told you before, Damon. She compelled us."

"Maybe you, but not me," Damon insists. "I love her."

"But does she love you?"

Damon doesn't bother answering. Of course she does. She does.

"She's selfish, erratic, violent. She will do whatever she wants, damn the consequences."

"Much like me."

"No you've changed. You're not the same person you were anymore. Don't go reverting back because of Katherine."

"It was just all an act, you moron! I didn't change! It was so we could work to free Katherine right from under your nose."

"I don't believe that."

"Believe whatever you want. I'm done talking to you."

"What about Blair then?" Stefan calls out after him, stopping Damon mid step.

"What about her?" Damon growls. The topic keeps veering back to the something he doesn't wants to avoid dwelling on.

"Last time I checked, Katherine was never one that liked sharing." Possessive was one of the many adjectives that describe Katherine Pierce. Vindictive, evil and jealous also rank among the most used terms.

"My friendship with Blair has nothing to do with Katherine."

"She won't see it that way. She's not blind. We've all seen how close you two are. You're putting Blair in danger. Soon enough I won't be the one you have to come bursting in to save from Katherine. And unluckily for Blair, she's not a vampire. She won't heal the way I would."

"I'm not letting anything happen to Blair," he vows. "Consider Katherine no longer your problem. And as soon as I find some place new neither will I. Don't worry your pretty little head about it."

Damon has had enough of Stefan's little lecture, so he continues descending the stairs.

"You're going to regret this. Freeing Katherine, you're going to regret it."

Damon ignores the niggling apprehension blossoming in his stomach. He doesn't want to think about all the very valid points Stefan has brought up, doesn't want to think about all the doubts that have begun to rise in his head.

xxx

Blair never followed orders very well, it stems from the fact that she's often the one giving them not receiving them. She creeps back downstairs and watches the she-vampire huddled in the shadowy corner of the cell.

"Well looky here. The human comes to visit. Didn't you promise Damon to stay away? I'm dangerous don't you know?"

"I'm not afraid of you."

Katherine laughs. "Ignorance is bliss. You have no idea what I'm really capable of."

"You forgot who staked you."

"You were lucky," Katherine echoes Damon's words. "I was preoccupied and I underestimated you. The next time you won't be so fortunate."

"Big talk for someone behind bars."

"I don't need a babysitter. Especially not some human," Katherine spits out.

"And I rather liked Elena's suggestion to put you back into the tomb, but we don't always get what we want. I really don't know what Damon sees in you."

"Don't you think it's about time you go home, little girl?" Katherine mocks. "I've seen the way you look at Damon. Sorry to break it to you, but you don't have what it takes. You're a human and he's not. You're delusional if you think he's going to pick you over me. It's really quite pathetic how you try and hang on to him."

"This coming from the girl who impersonated Elena because she just couldn't believe that some people were actually capable of moving on with their lives. You're not that special, Katherine. The world does not revolve around you."

Katherine replies with snarl and moves abruptly from her position crouched in the corner to standing right where the sunlight and the shadows meet.

"Why don't you come a little closer and say that to my face?"

"Why don't you?" Blair goads. "Are you capable of even extending your fangs? I remember that you had a bit of a mechanical problem the last time you got a taste of my blood."

Katherine smiles wickedly before extending her fangs.

"Next time consider using more blood. Perhaps by slitting your wrists," Katherine suggests in a mockingly sweet voice. "I've gotten a lot stronger than the weak skeleton figure you saw a few nights ago. Do you really think these flimsy metal bars and a single beam of sunlight is really enough to hold me back if I wanted to rip your throat out?"

Katherine takes a menacing step forward and grips the iron bars so hard that her knuckles turned white. The metal creaks as if it was going to bend underneath the pressure and Blair takes a cautious step back despite the smoke rising as it burns Katherine's hands. Blair swallows nervously. She underestimated how much she had gotten under Katherine's skin.

"Still cocky now?" Katherine baits. "I'll rip these bars apart like how I'll rip you limb from limb."

Before Katherine can make good on her threats, Damon appears behind them.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay put," Damon growls at Blair, taking her hand and yanking her behind him.

Katherine retracts her step and releases her grip on the iron bars, resigning herself to crossing her arms across her chest defiantly. "You need to muzzle your human, Damon," Katherine replies. "Or she's going to have an accident."

"Muzzles are more befitting animals like you," Blair quips.

"Do you see what I mean?" Katherine whines, pointing an accusatory finger in Blair's direction.

"Blair. It's enough," Damon sighs.

"Better listen to him, princess."

"After all she has done, you're really siding with her?" Blair cries incredulously.

"Blair…" He's pleading with her to be understanding. The problem is that she understands too well (or at least she thinks she does) and she doesn't like what those sad beseeching eyes of his imply. He will always love Katherine and he will always pick her side. That's the simple fact of the matter. And it hurts. It hurts a lot.

"Fine. Do whatever you want," Blair retorts angrily as she storms out.

Damon watches her leave uneasily. This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't the way things were suppose to be like.

Katherine lips curl into a grin at the departure of the annoying human and drapes an arm around Damon's shoulder flirtatiously through the bars of her prison.

"Now that the pest is gone…" She purrs in his ear, trying to turn Damon's face towards hers.

Damon resists and shrugs off her advances, moving to where the sunlight can reach him and she can't.

"You still went to find Stefan," he accuses.

Katherine exhales a loud sigh. Nothing was going her way today.

"I told you. He had to pay. I wanted revenge."

"It didn't look like revenge to me."

The image of his brother and Katherine together replays itself in his mind. It brings back bad memories.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're all I care about," she sooths, attempting to reach his sleeve to pull him back into the shadows. "He was only revenge, that's all. But if you really don't want me to, I promise I won't go after Stefan anymore. It was a mistake. I won't do it again."

When he doesn't answer her she says those three little magical words. "I love you. Damon, I love you."

He turns around to face her. "Do you really mean that?"

She conjures up all of her feminine wiles into one smoldering, convincing stare. "I do."

He takes a step out of the sunlight. She pulls him in by the waist into the shadows.

"I'm sorry. It was a mistake," she repeats in a low, husky tone. "You're all I want and I was stupid to let a thing like settling a score make me forget that."

She moves her hand down his chest and smiles that self confident smile that used to mesmerize him. She leans forward as far as she can within her prison and kisses him as if she means what she says. She reaches for his hand through the iron bars and he can feel the burn marks on her palms. He kisses her back, even though he doesn't quite believe her.

Her kisses are cold and they don't make his lips tingle nor do they taste like champagne and something sweet. He flashes to a memory of another kiss and the slap that followed it. "I'm really sick of guys kissing me when they're thinking of other girls."

He breaks his kiss with Katherine suddenly and she frowns at him.

"Is something wrong?" she asks suspiciously.

It had always been about Katherine. It's all he has ever known. So why is it that despite his active efforts to pick up where he left off with his long lost love, does he find his thoughts becoming preoccupied with another brunette with glossy curls and ruby red lips? Stefan said that Katherine had compelled them, that their feelings for her weren't real. But it was real. He had been so sure. He had never felt that way for anyone before Katherine. She was the first and she will be the last.

It was real. What he felt for Katherine was real.

Wasn't it?

If it isn't then what was the point of all this? He's invested so much into this relationship that for it to all come to nothing now, well… the mere idea made him panic.

"No… nothing's wrong," he answers belatedly.

xxx

It's been awhile since she's checked her inbox. Between freeing Katherine, hiding her and restoring her back to health, and then trying to stop her from impersonating Elena and murdering/making out with Stefan, Blair didn't really have much free time to be checking her phone. So, when she does it comes to no surprise that it's full. She's shocked, however, to find that most of the texts had come from Nate. Twenty two to be exact.

Most of the texts are things that she already knows: He's still not talking to Chuck or Serena. He misses her. Did he mention that he's very very sorry? Because he really is. And things she doesn't really care about: St. Jude'ss lacrosse team won against Spencer's, but lost to Chapin. He's thinking about switching to soccer.

The latest text came on last Friday at eleven pm. It read: I rly miss u. Do u still hate me? So sorry. Pls 4give me. When r u coming back? - N

Since it's been awhile since the whole Serena-Nate blowout, she's surprised that his attention span could have lasted long enough for him to bother to text her with such annoying updates.

I don't care that you misses me. Yes I hate you. I still don't forgive you. I don't want you to text me anymore and I'm not coming back. - B

Blair debates whether or not hit the reply button, but in the end she does because she's spiteful and wants to let him know it. It's not because she's feeling horrible and more than a little bit homesick.

Five seconds after she sent her reply her phone starts ringing. It's Nate. She shouldn't have replied, it gave him an excuse to try calling her. She doesn't want to pick up, but it keeps ringing. She knows she's going to regret it the moment she does it. She hits 'Accept Call'.

"Blair? It's me, Nate."

She doesn't reply.

"Blair, are you there?"

She holds the phone to her ear silently, still not answering.

"Blair, I know you're there. Say something. Please."

Her voice comes out raspy in reply. "What's there to say, Archibald?"

"Blair. It's really you. My god, Blair. I really missed you."

"What do you want?"

"I'm sorry."

"You've said that many times already. Are you just repeating it so that you'll remember? Given your short term memory impairment it's understandable."

"You're still angry," Nate says stupidly.

"Of course I am," she snaps irritably.

She's channeling all her frustrations on him, but it's not like he doesn't deserve it.

"But you replied to my text. And you answered my call. That must mean something."

There's a tone of hopefulness in his voice that makes Blair nauseous.

"It means that I'm stupid and I should hang up now."

"No, wait! Please. I've spent a lot of time thinking about you and Serena and this whole mess I made."

"I don't want to hear your thoughts about cheating on me, Nate."

"I was so wrong. You know? I mean, so completely totally delusional. I must have been crazy to think I was in love with Serena. We never could have worked out."

"Does the fact that she's lesbian have anything to do with that?" Blair returns bitchily. Nate chooses to ignore her and continues on his soliloquy.

"She told me that I didn't love her. That I only used her as a way to escape my family's expectations and pressure and all that."

Blair doesn't know why she doesn't just hang up, but it's like the phone is glued to her ear and so she continues to listen to Nate's rambles.

"I didn't believe her then, but it's true. I was just trying to find an escape. It wasn't love. Love. Love is what I had with you. And I was stupid to let it slip away."

"Yes, let's just both agree that you were stupid," Blair replies squarely, even as her hands are trembling.

"I miss you. I love you. Please come back, Blair."

She grown distaste for that phase, I love you. Nate wields it like a weapon and it hits her every time.

"Pretty words, Archibald. But I'm not coming back."

"Then I'll come to you. I'll be there! Tomorrow!" He sounds excited like he just stumbled on the greatest idea of the century.

"Don't come. It won't do you any good."

"I'm coming. Tomorrow, I promise you," he declares adamantly. "Just to talk, Blair. I'll wait for you at that bar in town. There's only one, so you know which one. I'll wait for you. I won't leave until I see you."

He hangs up with those last words. She listens to the dial tone for a good five seconds before hanging up herself.

xxx

Katherine has a way of making him ignore his common sense.

"He's not worth my time. He and that Elena twit deserve each other. You're the one that matters. And we've been apart long enough."

She trails a finger down his chest, leaves kisses there, her teeth grazing against his skin.

"You know that little quiet corner that you were talking about? The one where we can be together, just you and me? I want that. I've realized that that's all I've ever really wanted."

Damon has heard sweet lies from her before. He's told them himself countless times so he should be a pro at distinguishing sincerity from bullshit. He chooses to be ignorant of all that when she leans in to place another kiss on his lips.

He starts thinking that the cold is okay, that he doesn't need to feel a tingle or the taste of champagne. Sometimes you only see what you want to see. In Damon's case, he's forcing himself to see it.

Still, despite all her pleading and cajoling, he refuses to let her out.

"Just stay here for the night. I'll find you a new place tomorrow and then we'll leave. You won't have to look back at Mystic Falls ever again."

He doesn't wait for her answer when he turns around and slide the lock shut behind him. He can only take so much denial in one day before it gets too tiring.

xxx

Despite everything he tells himself about Katherine and his feelings, his feet lead him upstairs and in front of her door, that other brunette he thinks about when he kisses Katherine.

He finds her on her bed, looking contemplatively at her phone. He raps his knuckle sharply against the door and the sound startles her. She quickly conceals her phone with a pillow and covers her surprise with an angry scowl. She's keeping secrets now and it bothers him.

"What do you want? Don't you need to be somewhere doing Katherine's bidding or something?"

He guesses he deserved that.

He holds up a first aid kit in his right hand and points to her wound. "I wanted to make sure you properly cleaned and bandage up your hand. We wouldn't want that pretty Waldorf skin to get scarred or anything. I might get sued," he jokes with a lightness he doesn't quite feel.

She's touched by his concern for a brief moment before the feeling is squashed by her stubbornness to stay mad at him.

"I'll do it myself. Thanks," she replies venomously, snatching the little tin box from his hands.

She goes about awkwardly trying to bandage herself with one hand and makes a mess of it. He sighs and finally takes the roll of gauze away from her. Despite the daggers she sends in his direction he silently goes about disinfecting the wound and wrapping it neatly.

"Now was that so hard?" he grins up at her once he finished.

"Horrendous," she replies without missing a beat, yanking her newly bandaged hand out of his and winces with the effort.

He sighs exasperatedly when she refuses to sheath her hostility despite all his soothing gestures. "You know, I should be the one mad at you! You promised me to stay away from Katherine and yet you went down there anyways!"

"Don't try and turn this around on me!"

"You could've gotten yourself killed. Katherine already has it out for you and so what do you do? You go right to her!"

"I'm a big girl. I can save myself."

"Oh, yes! Blair Waldorf can do anything can't she? She doesn't need anyone," he accuses.

"No I don't. And I especially don't need you to be the dashing hero. Truth be told, you're not fit for the job."

She knows just where to hit him so it hurts.

"Even if I get brutally murdered, it doesn't matter anyways. It's Katherine, so you'll forgive whatever she does."

He doesn't answer her and so she takes that as him agreeing. She can't compare to Katherine. No one can. She knows this and yet she still stupidly let herself be shocked when his actions prove her right. She should just quit while she still has her pride. Realize that she was just serving as a means to an end. Maybe he's grown fond of her, but that doesn't mean anything.

"It would matter," he bites out belatedly.

How could she think that he'd not care? He fucking cares! Doesn't the fact that he tried to keep her away from Katherine for her safety prove that?

"Why are you always trying to prove that no one cares? Does it make you happier that way? Do you think you won't get hurt if you automatically push people away first? We're not all like Nate Archibald or Serena freaking Van der Woodsen."

It's ironic that he's lecturing her because for the longest time, that's exactly what he was doing. Pushing people away, make them hate him first because then he won't have any expectations. When did he change? Deep down inside he knows the answer. It's when he met her. After Katherine he never thought he'd be able to look at anyone else and then she showed up. In trying to fix her, she fixed him. He found someone that might be worth letting in.

"No, you're not."

For some reason her reply sounds more like an accusation. Perhaps she means that he's not good enough to ever matter to her as much as Nate or Serena did in spite of everything they've done. He can feel her closing herself to him. Setting him up to be a disappointment because that's what she's expecting from now on. She has a habit for self-sabotage.

"Don't do that. Don't pretend I don't care because it's easier to think that I don't than if I do."

She knows he's telling the truth. He does care, just not the way she wants him to. She's getting tired of being angry at him. He never really did anything wrong and she's being petty and silly just because he doesn't like her the same way she's starting to like him. She's just getting all worked up by herself and it is kind of pathetic, but she's sick of being second place.

She sighs and rubs her eyes with her hands and remembers that her left hand is still bandaged up. She looks at it and notices a tan line on her ring finger from where the little ruby promise ring Nate gave her ages ago was. She's been hurt before and so this time around her first instinct is to just cut her losses. She shouldn't let him in any more than she already has.

"Then where do we go from here, Damon? Where do we go?"

"… I don't know."

Despite all his proclamations of grand schemes and diabolical master plans he never planned for Blair Waldorf. She wasn't in the plans, but she's here now and that's where he wants her to stay, even if the prospect of keeping her seems be growing more difficult.

What would he do if she doesn't want to stay?

What would she do if he doesn't want her to stay?

They become silent, both refusing to meet each other's eyes, preoccupied with their misunderstandings. They're sitting next to each other in the same room, but for all it matters they could be oceans apart. The problem with their familiarity is that they both assume they know each other better than the other and in result misconstrue each other's real intentions with their biased judgments.

xxx

In her darken cell, Katherine looks down at her slowly healing scarred hands. Despite her hefty threats, the Immune's blood had weakened her abilities and the wounds are slow to heal. It had taken all of her effort to bare her fangs earlier and now she's thoroughly exhausted. She comes to the conclusion that Stefan is no longer her main concern. The girl poses more of a threat and something has to be done about her and soon. By any means necessary, she has to get rid of Blair Waldorf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ahhh… so this chapter is sort of a downer due to all the drama surrounding Katherine's reappearance. Unfortunately things will have to get worse before it gets better. On another note, there's a bit of a side story surrounding Elena/Stefan and Elena's relation to Katherine playing in my head, but I don't know if anyone actually wants to find out? It will deviate a bit from the main Damon/Blair storyline, so let me know if you're interested in reading it or not =) As always, big thanks for reading! Please leave me any kind of review or comment! I love hearing from you!


	15. Chapter 15

Stefan hovers about nervously throughout breakfast, needing Damon to reassure him again and again that they would find a new place for Katherine. Apparently the phone call last night with Elena had ended rocky and the last thing Elena and Stefan's relationship needs is Katherine living in the Salvatore mansion.

"So you're leaving like right after breakfast, right?" Stefan prods for the millionth time in the last fifteen minutes.

"Yes," Damon replies irritably. "Will you leave already? You're already late for school."

"I'm going."

Stefan shrugs on his jacket while Damon sits in the living room, legs propped on the coffee table, a notebook in his lap and a cup of coffee laced with scotch besides him. He didn't get the memo about drinking before five and god knows he needs it.

"Why hasn't Blair come down yet?" Stefan inquires noticing that the petite brunette was no where to be found.

Damon flinches at the question. Blair always had a habit of being an early riser and it was strange that she was absent for breakfast when it was way past eight.

"She… must have overslept."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah, Katherine tried to kill you yesterday and she had to stake a vampire," Damon answers, the sarcasm laid on thick. "It was a long day, it's only natural she wants some extra sleep."

Stefan doesn't look entirely convinced. "Remember what I said-"

"That's enough," Damon interrupts. "I don't want to hear an encore of last night's lecture." He tosses his younger brother his backpack and shoos the younger Salvatore out.

Just as he slams the door shut in Stefan's face, he hears footsteps coming down the stairs and whips around hoping it is Blair.

Sure enough it's her, but not something was off. Her hair hasn't changed as far as he could tell. His gaze travels down from her face and he's hit with the sudden realization that her attire is all wrong.

"Y-you're wearing denim," he points out stupidly.

"Yes, I am aware of that," she quips.

Instead of her usual impeccably tailored designer threads, Blair Waldorf is sporting jeans and a fitted v-neck t-shirt.

He's standing there gaping at her as she self-consciously makes her way down the stairs, twirling her hair around her finger nervously as she tends to do when feeling slightly insecure. She scowls at him when he continues to gawk at her and her out of character outfit choice.

"You wouldn't happen to be Blair's evil twin would you?" He realizes as the words leave his lips that 'good twin' might have been the more accurate term to use. "Because the Blair I know wouldn't be caught dead in jeans, let alone a t-shirt."

"I ran out of clothes," she replies indifferently.

"How is that possible? You go shopping like everyday," he protests.

"And coming back empty-handed most days," she points out in a disgusted voice. "My laundry hasn't come back yet. Have I mentioned that not only do the malls here suck, but so do the dry-cleaners?"

He mimics her signature eye roll and she glares at him with her hands on her hips.

"Anyways… this," she gestures towards the aforementioned outfit with a dismissive wave, "was the only clean thing I could find."

He's still a little shell shocked and she's starting to blush from his intense scrutiny.

"Bonnie made me buy it the other day. She thought I should 'expand my horizons', whatever that means. I only humored her so she'd shut up," she blabbers on. When he continues to maintain his stare, she's all but ready to march back up the stairs. "Ugh, I'm going to change. I look ridiculous. Day old Valentino isn't so bad…"

He catches her arm just as she turns around. "Don't. You look gorgeous."

The jeans are a perfect fit, hugging all the right places and the t-shirt a flattering shade of green that brings out the gold flecks in her glossy waves. The v-neck of the top is just low cut enough to draw his attention to her creamy white skin, but modest enough to still be classy. She's always been a pretty girl decked out in all the latest designer fashions, but right now in a simple t-shirt and jeans, she's the most beautiful girl he's ever seen.

"I don't think you're capable of looking bad in anything, but you… you look beautiful. Don't change."

She's flushing a lovely pink color and biting her bottom lip making them slightly swollen in an irresistible way. As good as she looks in those jeans he thinks she would look better with them off. If he had any less restraint (and no girlfriend with major territorial issues locked up in the basement) he would be tempted to do very naughty things to her that would make most liberals blush.

"Stop undressing me with your eyes," she scolds even though she's beaming inwardly from all the attention.

She knows him too well. He smirks and walks around her to get the whole three hundred and sixty degree view. She's scowling at him again and so he can't help but tease her.

"Who knew it could happen? Blair Waldorf in jeans. Maybe tomorrow you give daisy dukes and a flannel shirt a try."

Her eyes roll heavenward in the usual exasperated manner. "Don't push your luck."

He admires her from behind as she pushes pass him and he comes to the conclusion that she needs to go shopping with Bonnie more often.

xxx

He leans against the door frame, arms crossed at his chest and an appreciative smile playing on his lips as he watches her lean forward to inspect the contents of the refrigerator.

"I was thinking we could go check out some places around town to move Katherine," he suggests as she pours herself a glass of orange juice.

She nods solemnly, not looking up from her mug. There's still some tension from the previous night and the topic of his vampire girlfriend was not an easy subject to broach.

After she finishes her juice and had a bit of toast with strawberry jam they get into his car and cruise into town.

There's a certain nostalgia associated with him driving and her in the passenger's seat. He's reminded of the first time he convinced her to get into his car so he can give her a ride home. She says that if only she hadn't worn her new Prada wedges that day she wouldn't have ever given him a chance in hell. He's glad for the timing of the release of Prada's new shoe line. He remembers their ride here with her making wisecracks about his beloved vehicle only to concede later on that it wasn't half-bad. She always did have a soft spot for the classics. He remembers the million of times that have followed when she asked demanded for a ride to the mall or the dry-cleaners or whatever other errand she needs to do. He's basically her driving bitch and she makes sure he knows it.

He watches her out of the corner of his eyes and decides that he likes how at home she looks. There's just something right about her sitting shotgun in his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and he can't imagine somebody else sitting there instead of her.

Her back is to him, but she can feel his gaze on the back of her head.

"Shouldn't you be watching the road instead of me?" she says as she watches the buildings blur past by. "If you don't want to run over a pedestrian you might want to focus on driving instead of ogling at me."

She turns around to give him her best I'm-Pretty-and-I-Know-It smile. He smirks, turning his attention back on the road.

After a good fifteen minutes of driving, they pull up to a big white house. A perky plump blonde woman comes bounding out to greet them the moment he turns off the engine.

"Why hello there! I'm Martha! We spoke on the phone. You must be Stefan Salvatore!"

He notices Blair raising one quizzical eyebrow at him before he puts on a big bright smile and shakes hands with the woman.

"Well, come on in! Let me show you the house!"

Before they know it they are both bustled into the house and on a highly detailed tour of the house in question.

As they are walking towards the next destination in the immense house, Blair tugs on his elbow and whispers, "She's grating on my nerves." He opens his mouth to respond, but is interrupted by their overzealous tour guide.

"We've finally arrived to the main attraction! This here is the master bedroom. As you notice, it's quite spacious with an adjacent bathroom and walk-in closet," the woman boasts. "I know how you young couples are. It's the bedroom that makes it or breaks it when it comes to buying a house. After all with you newly weds it's where you'll be spending most of your time." The woman adds some suggestive eyebrow waggling for good measure as if she wasn't being obvious enough.

Blair flushes a hot pink and Damon's smile widens into a broad grin.

"Oh, we're n-" Blair begins, but Damon interrupts her.

He takes her hand in his and strokes it affectionately. "What do you think, honey? Do you think it's big enough to fit our bed?" Turning towards the real estate agent he whispers conspiratorially, "She has a tendency to twist and turn at odd hours throughout the night. Sometimes it's like I'm sleeping next to a tornado. Plus she's a real blanket hogger."

The comments earns him giggles from Martha whilst Blair stands there opening and closing her mouth repeatedly without any sound, incapable of coming up with a good response that wouldn't involve heavy profanity. She settles for smacking him in the arm.

Damon winces as he rubs his arm, but the grin is permanently plastered on his face. "She's a real keeper alright."

The agent laughs at his charming antics before going on with the tour, pointing out the bay window and the hard wood flooring in the room.

"Oh look! There's even a Jacuzzi bath tub!" Damon calls from the bathroom while Martha discusses possible color palettes for the walls with her. "We should definitely give it a spin first thing. I know you have a thing for bubbles." He peeks out from the aforementioned bathroom to give her a suggestive wink. The annoying chortles coming from Martha makes her cheeks burn red.

She wants to kill him.

xxx

"So can I assume that you like the house?" the agent asks hopefully when they finally make it back downstairs.

"Oh yes. We love it," Damon grins.

"Alright then! Let's just get back to the office and sign a few papers."

"Ahh… about that. I don't think that is possible."

"What do you mean?" the woman asks, confused. "You can't buy the house without doing the necessary paperwork."

"Well you see… for the kind of people that we are, a paper trail is kind of… inconvenient."

The woman's face immediately darkens. "I'm afraid then that I can't sell you the house then. I won't risk losing my license with any sort of shady business!"

"Yeah… Don't you worry about that. You won't be doing any selling today I'm afraid." Damon locks eyes with her, stroking her cheek sympathetically. "This house is not hospitable. It's under renovation for the next four months and currently off the market. Nobody should come near it because of all the construction work. You know… flying debris and all. You wouldn't want anyone to get hurt would you?"

"Yes… it's dangerous, inhospitable, under construction," the woman repeats like a parrot.

"You went to work today, but there weren't any clients so you decided to call it a day and go home early. You didn't see anybody."

"I didn't see anybody. Business is slow… I should just go home."

"Yes, why don't you do that, Martha?"

"Yes. I will do that," the woman agrees, her head bobbing like an apple in her eagerness.

The real estate agent turns on her heels and starts marching down the porch steps. She gets into her car and drives away, leaving only a trail of dust in the driveway as the only indication that she was ever there.

"You know… I forgot how easy people can be when I can compel them," Damon sighs as he watches the dust settle. "Why can't you be like that?"

"We wasted a whole day listening to her ramble on about the tiles in the kitchen!"

"They're marble!"

"You could've just compelled her in the beginning!" Blair protests.

"And what fun would that be? We found out that this house has a hidden nook underneath the stairs! How could we have known that if she didn't show us around?"

"You're insufferable!"

"And you need to have a bit more humor," he says as imitating her with his hands on his hips. On a lighter note he adds, "So… want to give that Jacuzzi a test run?"

"I don't think so."

He sighs dramatically, but the smile is back on his face a second later. "Are you hungry?"

Before she even answers he's bounding towards the car and pulling out a picnic basket from the trunk, raising it above his head like a trophy, a goofy grin on his face. It makes her almost forget that she's annoyed with him. Almost.

xxx

They eat on the floor in the middle of the empty living room.

"When did you have time to do this?" She asks, trying to fight the smile tugging on her lips, but losing.

"Don't worry about it. Just eat your sandwich," he commands.

She tosses a grape at him, but she's smiling as she takes a bite out of her sandwich so he doesn't care. She chews experimentally and he's watching her reaction as she swallows.

"How is it?"

"I expected it to be completely inedible, but it's decent I suppose."

It's his turn to throw food at her.

"Hey!"

"I tried to do something nice! The least you could do is pretend to be charmed or impressed. It would be a nice deviation from how difficult you are most days."

"So this was what? A bribe for good behavior?"

"No, this is me trying to show my appreciation for all you've done. You didn't have to help me, but you did. Thank you. I wouldn't know what to do without you."

Truer words have never left his lips. She looks shocked and blinks back at him repeatedly.

"S-stop it. It's embarrassing," she stutters.

"Blair Waldorf, blushing from embarrassment?" he teases.

"I meant it's embarrassing for you," she clarifies smugly before taking another bite out of her sandwich.

The afternoon is spent with them lazing around on the floor, talking about the many quirks of their esteemed real estate agent (such as her habit of picking at her underwear when she doesn't think they're watching), enjoying Damon's culinary skills and exchanging sharp repartees every five minutes.

"What are we doing, Damon?" she asks, her head tilted back to catch the fading sunlight.

"Enjoying ourselves," he answers easily from across from her, watching how the sunset bath her in pretty colors. He really wishes she would stop taunting him with her exposed neck so temptingly.

As if she heard his thoughts her eyes flashes open and she resumes her cross-legged position, her hair falling forward to cover that coveted spot on her throat where her pulse beats the loudest from his view.

"Don't you think Katherine wouldn't appreciate it if you were going about playing house with me all day? She's not exactly the most generous of people."

His mood instantly dampens by her reminder of the reason why they're there in the first place.

"Do you really hate her that much?"

"Doesn't matter how I feel about her. It matters how you feel about her. You love her," she says with a shrug. "I just don't want the homicidal bitch up in my face about our friendship."

"Katherine has nothing to do with our friendship. Her being here… it won't change anything."

She scoffs in reply, "Oh please. It changes everything. She's your girlfriend! And she's not going to like another girl hanging around you. She's already told me as much. Look at what happened with Stefan and Elena for god's sake."

"I'm not going to let her hurt you. Don't worry about that."

"I'm not afraid of her."

"Can't you just let me be chivalrous for once?"

"This is the 21st century. I'm not going to play damsel in distress just so you can feel good about yourself."

"You never do anything 'just so' for anybody."

"You're avoiding the issue here. What is going to happen now? What am I suppose to do?"

His expression is conflicted and she doesn't like making him feel that way, but it's a legitimate problem that they have concerning the return of his old flame (she's putting an emphasis on the old part).

"You stay. For as however long as you want to. We're in this together."

Even as he says it he knows it is naïve, idealistic thinking. Everything she said about Katherine is true and he doesn't really know what to do except that he doesn't want to lose her. It's a dangerous feeling and it continues to grow everyday he's with her. Maybe the solution is that he shouldn't be with her. But that's an even more dangerous thought. Damon no longer recognizes a world without Blair Waldorf in it.

She's tearing up the left over crusts of her sandwich and making a mountain out of them as her thoughts are preoccupied with how long their time together is actually going to last. Probably not much longer if Katherine has any say in the matter. When it comes down to it, she knows he will pick Katherine no matter how close they are or how strong their friendship is. It's about time to start thinking of contingency plans, but he makes it hard when he's making sweet gestures and saying all the things she wants to hear. He's sitting there looking sexier than ever in the orange light of the sunset and all she wants to do is crawl over to him and kiss him, Katherine be damned.

"Is there anything to drink?" she asks to distract herself from the disconcerting thoughts.

He winces. "I forgot."

"You forgot to get drinks?" She repeats, angling a perfectly quirked eyebrow in his direction.

"Hey! I made sandwiches!"

She rolls her eyes in typical Blair fashion.

"What do you say we head to the Grill? It's Happy Hour."

The mention of Mystic Fall's one and only bar suddenly reminds about Nate's early telephone conversation and she takes a quick glance down at her phone. 5:17 PM blinks back at her. Nate had texted her in the morning telling her that he'd be there around six as she was debating whether or not to actually don denim for the first time in her life. Time seems to have had slipped away from her. That idiotic real estate agent wouldn't shut up about every little detail, giving them history lessons on every nook and cranny of the place, so it had taken them hours to finish touring the house.

Damon stands up and extends out a hand to help her up and she hesitates. The day has been mostly wasted, but the one thing that did come out of it was her realization that she has always wanted a big white house (or the Upper East Side variation of it anyways) and everything it represents. For the longest time Nate was the one she wanted beside her when her dream came true, but due to recent circumstances such idyllic fantasies been pushed to the farthest reaches of her mind. She was content with being independent, needing no one and nobody other than herself after Nate's betrayal, but now those desires and longing for somewhere, for someone to belong to comes crashing back after spending the day 'playing house' with Damon of all people.

She acknowledges that without her knowing when or how it started, her feelings for Damon had changed. The problem is she always falls for the guys who are in love with other girls. Damon is no exception.

"Are you tired? Maybe we should just go back," he suggest, noticing her troubled expression.

She knows that they're never going to have a regular relationship that includes house shopping or anything of the like because he's with Katherine, because he's a vampire, because she's not nor does she want to be and because of a million other different reasons. She's tired of wanting things from boys who can't give it to her. Maybe she should learn to fall in love with guys who actually want her and can be with her. Ironically enough right now the guy who wants her is Nate. Timing is funny like that. Blair just wants to be loved for once. She doesn't want to be the girl who keeps on giving her heart away and having it thrown back in her face. She wants something easier, something more natural and less heartbreaking. It's this desire that makes her say what she says next instead of insisting that they go home.

"No. I'm fine. It's been a long day, but what I really need is that drink. Let's go."

xxx

Katherine is sick of playing nice and watching that stupid Blair Waldorf make sideway eyes at Damon. Who the hell did the human think she was anyways? Not that Damon is any better. He is sweet and all, but Katherine is fed up with his romantic notions and his possessiveness. Katherine Pierce wasn't a girl to be tied down by anyone. She didn't leave the tomb to be put into another cage. It's been an entire day and she wants out.

Damon naively thought that a makeshift prison made of iron with silver locks would be enough to keep in a nearly four centuries old vampire of her caliber in. He'd soon learn his mistake.

Once the sky begins to darken, she listens for occupants inside the house and finds none. It's a rather fortunate time window in which Stefan and Elena has yet to come back from afterschool activities and Damon and Blair was still out looking at houses. She steels herself for the impending pain and then proceeds to peel the iron bars back to make a gap large enough to walk through. She ascents the stairs and encounters the locked basement door. With a vicious wrench she tears the silver lock from the heavy oak door. Her hands are severely burnt, but with the Immune blood having passed through her system they heal up quite nicely.

She doesn't go far, because Damon is still her one and only thread to the new world and she might not show it, but the modern world terrifies her. It makes her feel outdated and obsolete and she's not used to not being in control and not knowing everything. She stumbles into the nearest bar and enchants the bartender to give her a shot of whiskey. If anything, alcohol shouldn't have changed much in the past hundred and fifty years and she desperately needs a drink, if only for the intoxicating burn.

Whilst nursing her glass of whiskey, Katherine spots herself some prime meat in the form of one athletically built blonde with pretty blue eyes in a prep school jacket walking through the front doors.

He scans the room as if looking for somebody and ends up disappointed. His searching gaze lands on her and his eyes light up in recognition. He smiles, albeit cautiously, as if he knows her, but doesn't approach. Katherine chalks it up to her resemblance to Elena and thinks that for once having a modern doppelganger has its uses. She sends him a flirtatious smile and biting her lower lip seductively. Hello, dinner.

xxx

He searches the room for Blair's mahogany curls and ruby lips, but finds chocolate eyes that don't match his ex-girlfriend's staring back at him.

Nate is awkward around acquaintances and he's not quite sure how to approach her. Elena was Stefan's girlfriend and Stefan is Damon's brother and Damon very clearly hates his guts so there's that whole mess to contend with. Still… Vanderbilts were taught manners along with their sense of self entitlement at a tender young age, so Nate waves politely when his ex-girlfriend's friend's brother's girlfriend smiles at him. He's used to being nice to strangers.

Katherine takes Nate's greeting as an invitation and sashays her way over.

"Hey."

"Hi."

She's eyeing him flirtatiously and Nate is bit at loss how to react because the last thing he needs is his name on another Salvatore's hit list.

"Hey," Nate repeats dumbly. "Uhh…"

"I'm Katherine."

His shock and subsequent relief is a source of amusement to Katherine and her smile grows into a toothy grin. In a passing thought, Nate notices that her teeth look oddly sharp, like those of a shark or a vampire. He shakes his head to clear the thought and attributes the odd notion as a byproduct of the current vampire fad that has invaded the media as of late.

"I'm sorry, I mistaken you for somebody I know."

"Let me guess… you thought I was Elena Gilbert?"

"Oh! Um… yeah. You know her?"

"I'm her… cousin. We've been told we look a lot alike."

"Yeah, you really do. Sorry about bothering you in the middle of your drink."

"It's no problem. It gave me an excuse to say hi to you."

"Oh."

Nate blushes prettily and Katherine licks her lips.

He scans the room again and comes up empty. He's hoping that he's either early or that Blair is late. He doesn't know what he's actually going to say to her when he does see her, but he wants his life to go back to normal again. Blair had been such a large part of his life, everyday without her feels like something essential is missing.

Katherine is annoyed with the blonde pretty boy's distracted manner, especially since she's standing there sending him all sorts of come hither signals. She coughs to regain his attention when he's fidgeting around, scanning the bar once again.

"Since I told you my name, shouldn't you tell me yours?"

"Oh! I'm sorry. I'm uh, Nate. Nate Archibald," he adds belatedly, extending his hand out for a handshake. Katherine's grin couldn't have grown any smugger.

"So… tell me Nate. How you know Elena?"

She's curious as to how Elena Gilbert could know such a strapping hot piece of specimen. He doesn't look like he's from around here. She could smell the rich city boy scent on him.

"I don't actually. I mean not really… She's Stefan's girlfriend and I met Stefan when I stayed here for a little while. But I don't really know Stefan that well either. I don't know if you know Stefan… but he's the brother of a friend of my girlfriend… well ex-girlfriend. Anyways… Stefan's Damon's brother and-"

"Get to the point," Katherine snaps impatiently stopping the blonde mid ramble. She catches Nate's eye and puts the young Archibald under her spell.

"I'm Blair's ex-boyfriend."

"Blair Waldorf?"

Her interest in the blonde pretty boy immediately heightens due to his association with the pesky Immune.

"Yeah. And Damon and she are friends."

"I'm aware of that," Katherine answers bitterly.

"And Damon's Stefan's brother and Stefan's Elena's boyfriend-"

"Yes, yes. I get the picture," Katherine drawls, interrupting Nate mid ramble.

She taps her martini glass with one elongated finger, her mind swirling with plots. With a smile she leans in closer to Nate.

"So, Nate. Tell me more about Blair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I had a lot of fun writing Damon and Blair on their house hunting adventure. So I hope you liked it too! =D I also decided to forgo the whole Stefan/Elena thing. I didn't know how I was going to fit it all in without deviating too much from the Damon/Blair storyline and I know you all just want some hot steamy Damon/Blair action anyways. Next chapter might be out a bit late I'm afraid because I will be doing some traveling. But as a teaser… let me tell you that the next chapter will feature a ****ing scene. ;-) Look forward to it! Thank you for reading! I love reading all your comments/reviews so keep em coming!


	16. Chapter 16

Damon and Blair walks into an unexpected sight as they stepped through the entrance of the bar. Lounging like Cleopatra on her divan sat Katherine Pierce in all her glory.

Blair's the first one to break their stunned silence. "What is she doing here? She's supposed to be locked up in the basement!"

Katherine's notices them from the corner of her eye and gives them an infuriatingly annoying smirk before her attention is drawn away by a tall blonde bringing her a drink. She goes about ignoring their presence while she chats up the mystery man whose face they can't see.

"She must have gotten out somehow."

"Well, shouldn't we do something?"

Damon glances around the bar noticing several patrons scattered about the room even though it was barely 5pm. "We can't provoke her with so many eyes watching."

Blair nods in agreement, scanning the room. "True, you could always compel people to forget, but if she kills any of them it would be bitch to clean up after."

He laughs quietly. If it were Elena or Stefan he'd be getting a sermon on how reckless actions will injure innocent bystanders and how life is sacred or some bullshit like that. Unlike them, Blair's all about the practicality of it, vampires aren't known for their neat killings after all.

Katherine hears his laugh and looks up from her enthralling conversation with the blonde to catch his eye. His smile instantly falters. She looks at him for a long while, as if making some sort of silent debate with herself. She makes up her decision and resumes her smug grin before turning her attention back to the blonde sitting across from her. Damon clenches his jaw at her snub.

"It'll be fine for now. She had a chance to leave, but she didn't. And if she wanted to kill someone she would've done it already. So, until she does something we'll just keep an eye on her."

Blair nods in agreement and he leads her to the bar to get that drink he promised her. They seat themselves in a corner that was in direct view of Katherine and order themselves their drinks. He orders a Scotch, neat and she orders a martini, dry with two olives. They sit there watching as Katherine flirt with her blonde while sipping their drinks.

"No offense… but your girlfriend is sort of a slut," Blair comments as she watches Katherine lean in close to the mysterious blonde and touch her fingers to his chin.

"Be nice."

"Tell her that," Blair quips, noticing how Katherine would shoot random glares in her direction.

Katherine always just does whatever the hell she wants. He tries to shrug off his agitation, but it is difficult to ignore. The blonde shifts in his seat and for a moment his reflection is caught in the window and Damon's eyes widen as he realizes that the guy Katherine is talking up is none other than Nathaniel Archibald. He looks over to Blair and sees that she has noticed the same thing.

"I didn't know Nate was in town," he states, searching Blair's face for some sort of emotion.

She doesn't know how she could've missed it. Looking at him now, she could clearly tell that he's wearing his St. Jude's school jacket and that shiny blonde Nate Archibald hair is unmistakable. Katherine's little prison break had muddled her brain so that she forgot why she came here in the first place. She just couldn't believe that the two were together. She snaps out of her self berating thoughts when Damon waves a hand past her face. She recalls belatedly that he had made some sort of comment that she was suppose to answer.

"Are you okay? If Nate's upsetting you…"

"I don't care," she replies as nonchalantly as she can muster, turning away from the scene before them.

He lifts one perfect brow in her direction. Usually she's better than this at covering up her feelings. It just goes to show how much the Archibald heir still affects her. "Sure you do."

She flit her gaze up at him exasperatedly before returning to playing with the olive in her martini. "I assure you, I do not."

He stops trying to win a staring contest with someone who's not even staring back and him and swivels around on his bar stool to watch Katherine and Nate.

He feels stupid for thinking Katherine really meant what she said. He's not going to be enough. It's no fun for her if there's only one person in love with her. She wants to have everything and even then that's probably not enough to sate her greed.

Blair's watching the couple from the corner of her eyes, refusing to look at them directly. Nate hasn't even noticed her yet, that's how captivated he is with Katherine.

'So much for all of his pretty words on the phone,' she thinks.

The heartbreak of rejection feels fresh again and she regrets coming. She wasn't planning on getting back together with Nate any time soon, but she did think that he was at least a bit genuine in his apologies. The least he owed her was some heartfelt sincerity and she thought she deserve as much. It shouldn't surprise her that Nate would have been distracted by somebody prettier.

"I'm proposing a plan," Damon whispers when she finishes her martini in a single gulp and orders another.

He always has a plan. They're usual idiotic or destructive. Majority of the time they're both. And yet it doesn't stop her from asking, "What plan?" She sighs as she stirs her newly refreshed drink a little more enthusiastically than necessary.

"To make them jealous."

"Oh, yeah? And how are you planning on doing that?" she scoffs.

He's smiling mischievously when he answers her. "Like this."

Damon wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her onto his lap so suddenly that she has to wrap her legs around him. In effect, she ends up basically straddling him, his hands on her hips to keep her steady.

Their lips are centimeters apart, but he doesn't lean in those few extra centimeters to close the space. She darts her eyes to the side and sure enough Katherine has stopped talking and was watching them. Nate, too, turns around in his seat and finally sees her. His eyes are wide in shock. She looks back at Damon and while her face is kept expressionless her heartbeat belies her calm.

"Well, you've got them watching," she points out.

He nods in reply. The gesture serves to bring their lips even closer together, but not close enough to touch.

"What are you waiting for?" she asks, not pulling back.

He wants to close that gap, but he hesitates. She's not somebody he could just use once and throw away. She's not disposable like random girls he picks up at bars or hotel lobbies. She's Blair Waldorf and she deserves to be loved and she will be loved.

The only problem is that he's scared to be the one to love her because that might destroy everything he's ever known.

"I didn't want to get slapped like the last time I tried to kiss you," he lies.

He doesn't want to destroy their friendship over some petty show for Katherine and Nate. And it is sure as hell not going to be like how it was the first time. He kissed her the first time for all the wrong reasons and he wants to kiss her for the right ones. She deserves no less.

"It's not like I can hurt you even if I do slap you."

"It's the principle of the matter. A gentleman shouldn't get slapped for kissing a lady."

He's having doubts and he doesn't want to go through with it, not if he doesn't mean it. He can't do a fake kiss because he wants to kiss her for real, has been wanting to for a while now. Even so, he knows that anything between them would be fated for disaster. She still obviously has a lot emotional baggage with Nate despite what she might say on the matter and he's supposedly with Katherine, even if the exclusivity clause on that relationship is a bit skewed. It's just not good timing.

"I think gentleman is a bit farfetched wouldn't you think?" she remarks snidely.

The close proximity in which they are having their conversation makes it hard for him to think straight. All of his doubts and reasons to not kiss her starts to fade into black when she darts out a little pink tongue to lick those enticingly red lips of hers. Suddenly he notices all the places where their bodies touch.

His fingers are touching the bare skin of her waist where her shirt has ridden up. Her hand is playfully tickling the hair on the back of his head, sending his nerves on overdrive. He can feel the heat of her on his lap, her toned legs curled around him in order to keep her balance.

Wherever they don't touch, he's aching to amend.

"On the contrary, I'm an actual member of the Virginian gentry from the early 1800s… so it is not farfetched at all." He somehow manages to sound glib even when he feels quite out of breath.

Blair's eyes flickers one more time to Nate and he realizes he wants her to want to kiss him. And not just for show. He wants her to want him, just like how he wants her right now.

He wants to be the one she's thinking about if they kiss.

He doesn't realize how desperately true that fact is. He doesn't know when it happened when he started to like her more than a friend, but it is happening. It scares the hell out of him, but he likes it.

"Aren't you going to kiss me now? Talking like this is a little uncomfortable." Her gaze lowers to his lips and then back to his eyes expectantly, holding his gaze.

He can't do this. He regrets even thinking of such a stupid plan to rile up Katherine and Nate. He has too much emotional investment for it to be all for a game of charades.

His hands fall from their position around her waist. "Maybe this is a bad id-"

She doesn't let him continue on with his indecisiveness and instead makes the choice for him by closing those last few millimeters of empty space between them. The physical act itself is very insignificant. She merely cups his face with her hands, leans forward, tilts her head a little and kisses him.

He doesn't hesitate to kiss her back.

xxx

Once their lips touch, the rest of the world falls away. It's a kiss without urgency or haste. It's slow and languid, as if time has stopped for both of them. Her lips are soft and yielding. That heat that was missing from Katherine's kisses, she has it in spades. She's so hot that he feels like he's burning, but he wants to be consumed by her fire.

Halfway through the kiss, between his hand reaching up to caress her face and her tongue finding his, he forgets that Nate and Katherine were watching.

He's a better kisser than she ever imagined him to be, and she has imagined many things about how Damon Salvatore might kiss. Their first kiss was too brief for her to fully experience just how a hundred years of experience can lend to the art of kissing and Damon has had a lot of experience. She understands now how so many girls could fool themselves into believing that he loves them. It's from the way he kisses.

Damon Salvatore has a way of kissing you that makes you think you're the only girl that matters in the whole entire world. She tells herself that it's just a kiss. She tells herself that she won't be one of those foolish girls. She tells herself a lot of things, but she finds that she doesn't know how to kiss him without falling a little bit (more) in love with him.

Does he kiss Katherine this way too?

The passing thought is enough to remind her why they're doing this in the first place and her eyes flutter open and darts over to their audience. She was looking for Katherine's reaction, but meets Nate's gaze instead. She can tell from his face that their little show was eliciting exactly what they originally intended. Both Katherine and Nate are seething with jealousy.

Damon opens his eyes when he notices that Blair's attention has been sidetracked, which is a miracle in itself because he's Damon Salvatore and girls do not get distracted in the middle of a hot make out session with him. He follows her line of sight to see Nate Archibald glaring daggers in his direction. It bothers him that she's staring at Nate even though her lips were still on his and he forces her attention back to him.

"Don't look at him," he rasps before deepening their kiss.

This time he's more urgent, more possessive. His hand moves down to her thigh, rubbing them through the tight denim. He moves to kissing her neck and she tilts her head back to give him access. He can feel the vibrations of her pulse through his lips and it takes all his will power not to graze her skin with his fangs. Her hands instinctively reach for his hair to bring his head back up for a hungry kiss. She grips it a little too tightly, but he likes the pain. He sets himself to the task of kissing her so thoroughly that he erases all other kisses from her mind.

The loud rapping of knuckles on wood startles them. They break apart, a little dazed, a little light headed and a lot confused.

"Hey! Where do you two think you are? This is a public place! Keep it PG-13 rated, otherwise I'd suggest you get a room," the bartender admonishes them.

Once he leaves, Blair starts bursting into laughter and Damon can't help but follow suit. Their audience, however, was in no laughing mood.

"I kind of like his suggestion," Damon smirks, his eyes are still cloudy with lust.

He leans in to place another kiss on her lips to which she returns briefly with a smile on her face.

"Of course you would," she replies with a hair toss.

He notices a love bite right under her left earlobe when she flips her hair back and it makes him oddly pleased to know that he's left his mark on her.

"You'd jump on any opportunity to get into some girl's pant," she continues casually. She leans forward as if to kiss him again only to leave him hanging when she pulls back and slides off his lap to return to her own respective seat. She busies herself smoothing the front of her shirt to look presentable again.

"You know you're not just 'some girl' right?" he says sincerely as he reaches to stroke her cheek, his finger trails down and lingers at the corner of her mouth. Her lips are wonderfully swollen from his kisses and it only makes him want to kiss them again.

Blair's teasing smile falters when she sees his serious expression. She wants to say something back, but she doesn't know what to say when he's looking at her so intently.

He takes her right hand into his left one and rubs circles into her palm soothingly. He studies her features as he brushes an invisible strand of hair out of her face with his free hand. He needs any excuse to touch her, make sure that this isn't a dream because he feels like he's dreaming.

She looks the same (same chocolate hair, same pouty lips, same rosy cheeks) and yet she's so different from the girl he met back in New York. She's a bit more broken, a bit more damaged, but she's stronger for it. The girl back in New York was jaded, but she still had a sense of innocence about her that secretly believed that everything would turn out alright in the end. The girl besides him doesn't have that same naïveté. She's been hurt and she's survived, but there are scars and it shows. He liked the girl in the New York, but he's liked other girls before. It never stopped him from leaving them behind before. The girl sitting in the bar stool besides him, however, he'd be willing to go to the ends of the earths and back if she asked, but he'd rather stay put wherever she was.

He ponders whether or not she's changed to become somebody he cares so much about or was it he who changed to become somebody who could care so much about her? He doesn't know why such strange thoughts occur to him, but for some reason he feels that it is urgent that he figures out exactly how he feel about Blair Waldorf because it starting to feel a lot like love which can't be possible because he's suppose to be in love with somebody else.

Nate's approach doesn't leave him enough time for further contemplation or conversation.

xxx

Nate has on a strained smile and ignores Damon as he focuses his attention on Blair.

"Hey, Blair."

Nate seems to want to ignore the fact that she just had her tongue down another guy's throat and is all smiles. She doesn't know what to do about that so she puts on a bored face and twitches her mouth upwards briefly in greeting when he continues to smile stupidly at her.

"You really came. When we spoke on the phone I didn't think you'd show up, but I'm so glad you did."

Damon shoots Blair a surprised look. She left out the part where she was still on speaking terms with Nate let alone her plans to meet with him. Damon was of the firm belief that two had severed their ties when Nate had left Mystic Falls about two weeks ago. Is this why she was so insistent that they go out for drinks? But he was the one that suggested it so it couldn't have been her idea. Or maybe he just beat her to the punch. Maybe she planned on meeting Nate without him. Such are the thoughts invading his mind.

He doesn't know why he feels so betrayed when he had no right to object to her meeting with whoever she want, doing whatever she want. They were merely friends; he has no claim on what she does. Still he feels that this revelation is harsher than the slap she gave him the last time they kissed. She avoids meeting his accusing eyes.

"You… Wow! You look great!" Nate comments after getting an eyeful of her new wardrobe.

Blair frowns and fidgets in her seat, her cheeks flushing involuntarily and she manages to murmur a begrudging "thanks."

"It's good to see you," Nate beams.

As much as Nate tries to dazzle her with his smile, she hasn't forgotten all of his sins and returns his smiles with a grimace.

"So now you've seen me. What more do you want?" Blair replies coldly.

Damon should feel some comfort that she's treating Nate with such iciness, but he doesn't. He can hear her heart rate hitch even as she glares up at the pretty boy bobble head.

"We have to talk, Blair," Nate insists, his grin falling away.

"There's nothing left to say, Archibald. I'm surprised you even had the guts to come back here," Damon injects.

"This is between me and Blair."

"Well, my fist is about to be between your eyes," Damon threatens in a casual tone that does little to mask his malice.

Blair pulls back Damon's arm and shakes her head before turning to Nate. "You want to talk? Let's talk. Outside."

Without another word, she slips off her barstool and heads towards the bar's exit without waiting for him to follow her or to listen to Damon's protests.

xxx

The night air is cold and it bites at her bare arms. She shivers a little and Nate, in a familiar gesture, takes off his jacket and drapes it over her shoulders despite her protestations. His hand briefly touches her cheek when she turned to look at him and with any other guy she might think that was a calculated move, but Nate never really think about things like that. He never needed to learn such tricks; girls usually just throw themselves at him naturally. She had forgotten how sweet and simple he can be when he's not cheating on her with her best friend.

"Do you remember this jacket?"

Blair looks down and fingers the navy sleeve. Yes. She does remember. She lifts the right sleeve and sure enough the little heart pin is indeed attached*.

"You gave me your heart once, Blair. I wasn't very good at taking care of it, but I swear to you. This time will be different."

"'This time will be different,'" Blair repeats. "That's what Serena said too when she came back," she whispers softly not breaking her gaze from the small gold heart as she rubs it between her thumb and index finger.

"Serena left. She went back to boarding school. She's no longer a part of this."

"So what? She's moved on. It's about time you did, too."

"Blair," Nate pleads, reaching for her hand. She doesn't let him.

"I only came because I wanted to tell you that to your face. I'm sick of your little messages and your phone calls."

"You don't mean that."

"I do mean it. Move on, Nate. I have."

Nate glances back at the bar and notices Damon watching them through the windows.

"Are you… with Damon now?"

Blair trains her body to not flinch at his question.

"No. Katherine… the girl you were talking to before, Elena's…"

"Cousin?"

"Yeah… That's his girlfriend. We… we're just friends."

She doesn't know why she's telling him this, but she feels like the last thing their messed up relationship whatever it is they are to each other needs is more lies. She's going to be as honest to him as she is to herself. Maybe if she can convince him, she can convince herself. She is not, repeat, not falling for Damon Salvatore. And she doesn't care about Nate Archibald either. She doesn't need anyone.

"Then that kiss-"

"He wanted to make her jealous and I…"

"Did you want to make me jealous, too?" he prods hopefully.

"I would have to care about you enough to do that," she answers coldly, but her eyes are darting away from his face despite their firm glare earlier.

The problem with her motto of honesty is that sometimes she's lies to herself out of self-preservation.

After several years of being Blair's boyfriend, in spite of how dense Nate usually is, he has picked up on the little cues that tell him that Blair is lying. She may not admit that she does and she may even tell herself that she really doesn't, but deep down inside he knows that she still cares about him, even if it's only enough to hate him. Nate vaguely remembers somebody telling him that there's a fine line between love and hate so it gives him hope.

"Come back to New York with me."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I was wrong. Because I was stupid. Because I made the biggest mistake of my life letting you go."

"That's all correct, but they're not good reasons for leaving with you. I haven't forgiven you yet."

"I was wrong for sleeping with Serena, but you ran off with another guy. We're both guilty parties!"

"Are you saying this is my fault?"

He's put his foot in his mouth and scrambles to find the right words that won't end up with her slapping him across the face.

"No! No! What I'm trying to say is… What I'm trying to do…"

She's tapping her foot impatiently, waiting to see how he was going to get himself out of this mess. He thinks she probably finds it sadistically entertaining that he's bending over backwards trying to get back into her good graces. In fact, he knows that she's enjoying it. Which makes it all the harder.

"I want to fight for you. I know that now. You're the one I should've been fighting for all along, but I was too stupid to realize it. I didn't love anyone else, Blair. Lust and love are different things. With Serena it was lust, but I love you."

She flinches at the L-word and he knows he's found the crack in the wall she's put up against him.

"I love you," he repeats.

She shakes her head.

"I love you!" he declares. He's found the chink in her armor and so he's hammering away at it with the only weapon he has.

"Then your love must be very cheap."

"If you can call ten years of being together cheap, then I guess it is. Call it whatever you want, but we have history and you can't erase that. Those ten years don't just disappear overnight. We had something, Blair. Let me make it up to you. Those ten years, they were good!"

Yes. Those ten years with Nate had been good. But then again, anything can be good until it goes bad.

"I can't trust you. I don't trust you."

"Then maybe this will convince you."

Blair is rendered speechless when Nate Archibald gets down on one knee.

Damon gets up from his seat hastily from where he was watching inside the bar, but Katherine lays a hand on his shoulder to still him.

"Don't get involved," she whispers. "She wanted this."

Damon finds Katherine's words strange, but continues to focus on watching when Nate takes Blair's hand into his own.

"Nate… What are you doing?"

"I've procrastinated doing this for too long and I know that I've kept you waiting all this time… but better late than never, right?" he chuckles nervously.

Blair frowns at him fighting the urge to wretch her hand away.

"Nate, I'm not kidding. Get up!"

He merely shakes his head in reply to her protestations.

"This has been a long time coming."

"Nate, get up right now," she commands.

He ignores her and goes through with his proposal anyways.

"Blair…would you marry me?"

Just then Katherine forces Damon's face away from the scene playing on the other side of the window, breaking off his concentration so he never hears Blair's answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Yes… I know that Blair actually sewn the heart pin on Nate's sweater and not his school jacket, but there's actually a reason for the change. Also, I thought it would be weird for Nate to drape a pullover sweater over her shoulders. _
> 
> A/N: So I guess you all realized that my teaser was that there would be a kissing scene. I hope I made it sufficiently steamy enough, I tried my best. I left it off at another cliffhanger, but I did update sooner than expected so don't hate me! As always, comments/reviews are love! I hope you enjoyed!


	17. Chapter 17

She clasps her ears with her hands before she could actually hear him ask the infamous question.

"I can't hear you," Blair sing-songs. She knows she's being childish but maybe if she doesn't actually hear him ask then it won't count.

"Blair, I said-"

"I still can't hear you," she repeats obstinately, a tinge of irritation creeping into her tone.

Nate frowns and gets up from his kneeling position to pull her hands away from her ears.

"Blair. I'm trying to-"

"I know what you are trying to do and it's a cheap, dirty move and I refuse to hear it!"

"Blair, I just miss you and everything that we used to be. I just want you to forgive me-"

"That's not the way it works, Nate."

"Can't you just give me a chance?"

"No," She replies coolly and turns on her heels only stop in her tracks when she sees Damon with Katherine positively salivating all over him.

xxx

Inside the bar, Katherine is adamant to keep Damon's attention.

"I think the show has gone on long enough don't you think?" Katherine remarks, one brow angled towards him in a condescending manner.

"The only show that's going on is you making a fool out of yourself," Damon replies calmly taking a sip from his drink.

"Look, I get it. You wanted me to be jealous. Congratulations. It worked. Now you can stop with the act," Katherine remarks snidely to him.

"Not everything is about you, Katherine."

Katherine was never one to take rejection well.

The two are currently engaged in some sort of intense staring contest and Blair is quite positive Damon has forgotten all about her. She guess the kiss did what it was suppose to and he's got what he wanted, which is to say Katherine's attention. For a brief second Damon turns and their eyes meet, but Katherine grabs his face with her hands to turn his attention back on her.

"Don't look at her. This is about us." She moves her hand over his chest to where his heart should be and keeps it there.

Nate comes up from behind Blair and together they watch the couple talking through the bar's windows. Unfortunately, Blair doesn't have Damon's super hearing ability and can't make out the subject of their conversation. Katherine grants her one last glower before kissing Damon.

"Blair… Please," Nate says softly as he turns her away from the scene through the window. She's almost grateful for it. She thinks that she's seen enough.

"Won't you at least listen to what I have to say?" Nate pleads.

She blinks back up at him, but doesn't answer. She comes up with some sort of decision and so she wordlessly moves over to the side of the curb and raises her arm to hail a taxi. She quickly catches the attention of one that stalls in front of her.

"Okay. You want me to hear what you have to say? You want to convince me? Then do it. You have fifteen minutes," she states before sliding into the waiting yellow cab.

From inside of the bar, Damon's phone vibrates on the bar top with a text from Blair telling him that Nate would take her home first.

xxx

Damon pushes Katherine away the moment her lips touches his, going so far as to wiping his mouth with the back of her hand. Of course Blair never gets to see any of this. Such is the nature of the both Nate's and Katherine's impeccable timing.

Katherine's brows furrow even more, a grimace on her lips at his reaction.

"So what? Are you saying that you don't love me anymore?" she demands haughtily.

He stares back at her rebelliously, but unable to answer.

"What was that kiss for if not to make me jealous?"

He has yet to make a reply and Katherine goes on with her tirade.

"Don't tell me you actually have feelings for that human," Katherine says between gritted teeth, the disgust clearly in her voice. "I don't believe it for a moment. These humans," Katherine gestures dismissively towards the people going about their daily routine. "They're merely our prey. Playthings at most. You're not one of them, Damon. Not anymore. Have you forgotten who you are?"

Damon doesn't have a chance to answer because just at the moment his phone buzzes noisily from the bar. He turns around to pick up it up and finds Blair's message. Katherine reads it over his shoulder.

"Seems like Blair understands. She knows her place… and it's not here," Katherine taunts condescendingly.

Damon whirls around and violently and suddenly pin her against the wall. Katherine's smirk fades and is replaced with sobriety.

"What do you want from me?" he growls.

"I want to talk," she answers calmly.

"Fine. Then let's talk."

xxx

"You said you wanted to talk? Then talk."

Blair doesn't even bother to look at him when she addresses him. She keeps her gaze plastered to the buildings blurring past outside the taxi window. Nate turns himself around in his seat and tries to draw her attention away from the nighttime scenery passing them by.

"The fairytale Happily Ever After you always wanted… We can have it, Blair. The white picket fence, the big house, we can have it all."

His words strike a chord with her because it's exactly what she's been thinking about ever since she and Damon came back from their house hunting trip.

"Marry me."

"I don't believe in fairy tales anymore. You're the one that taught me that. And this is really a sorry excuse for a proposal. You don't even have a ring."

"I didn't have time to get the ring from my mother."

She knows exactly what ring he's talking about. The Vanderbilt ring. He's being serious and Blair's a little taken aback.

"Don't give up on me. I'm trying. I'm really trying. I made a mistake, and I know I've hurt you. But there were times when you were happy."

"Do I look very happy right now?" she scoffs.

"But you can be! I've made you happy before-"

"You've also made me miserable before!" she screams back angrily.

He's smiling for some reason and it only adds fuel to her frustration.

"What are you smiling about?" she grumbles, arms folding across her chest defensively.

"This is the first time you yelled at me. You've yelled at everybody, but me. It means I'm making progress."

She's silently indignant. How dare he act like he knows her so well? Because he does. That's the part she hates the most. She's been with Nate for over ten years, even dense as he is, the boy must have picked up on some things.

"If you're not with Damon, then what's the point in staying here? What is there for you here?"

She refuses to look him in the eye and he answers his own question. "There's nothing."

Blair doesn't answer him because all he said was true. There's really nothing for her in Mystic Falls. There was Damon, but not anymore.

"I'm going back to New York tomorrow. You don't have to come with me, but know that I'll be waiting for you. Come back, Blair. You don't belong here."

"I don't belong anywhere," she replies sadly as she steps out of the taxi. "Tell my mother not to worry… if she even realizes that I'm gone."

"You should tell her yourself. I'll wait for you in New York."

She prepares to take off his jacket and hand it back to him, but he stops her.

"No, keep it," he says shaking his head. "It's yours… just like I am."

Nate leaves after pressing a tender kiss on the inside of her wrist. She watches the taxi turn a corner, thinking, how did Nate know exactly the right things to say to make her heart waver.

xxx

"Why didn't you leave?" Damon interrogates.

It's the question that has been plaguing him ever since he walked into the joint and saw her sitting there, free from her chains. She could have left, but she didn't. It makes him think that maybe, just maybe, she really does mean a little bit of what she says.

"Why do you think?" Katherine answers slyly.

He wishes that for once she would just be straight with him. No games, no innuendos, just the truth.

"It couldn't possibly be because of me since you've easily found yourself some new admirers."

Katherine rolls her eyes and huffs. "I was only talking. What does it matter if talk to other guys? I'm with you."

"The problem is, Katherine… with you, it's never just 'talking'. After all, that's what you said about Stefan back when we were together."

"This is rich coming from somebody who was just kissing that stupid little human girl."

"She has a name."

"She has a death wish."

"You don't touch her," Damon warns in a low voice. "She's my friend and you're not to lay a hand on her."

Katherine's eyes narrow and Damon wonders if he did Blair a disservice by defending her. Just as quickly as her anger flared did she stow it away, hiding it behind a blinding smile.

"I want to make this work, Damon."

"Really? Because I really couldn't tell."

"You know that this is the way I am. You knew it."

"I did."

"And you loved me anyways. You still do." Katherine cups his cheeks with her hands. "And I love you."

No matter how many times she says it, all of her lovely words are losing their meaning to him.

"Come now… why are we wasting our time arguing about something so insignificant? There are better things we can do with our time."

She leans in to kiss him as if kissing could erase all of their problems. He turns his head away and she frowns.

"I found you a new place. It's an empty house by the river, it's been for sale for ages and no one can afford to buy it in this economy so you'll be safe there for a while."

The house is not the same house he went to see with Blair. He doesn't know why he wanted to bring her there when he actually found Katherine a different place already, but he had passed by that big white house and for some reason he had the urge to show it to her. It just seemed like something Blair would've liked.

"If you're done with your drink I'll take you to it."

"What? Am I no longer welcomed in the Salvatore house? Don't you remember all the places where we've…" Katherine trails off suggestively, stroking his hand from across the table.

He looks back at her expressionlessly, but she knows him well. She can feel the slight tremor in his hand that tells her she's finally provoking a reaction from him. Damon has always been nostalgic person.

"What were you talking about with Nate?"

She scoffs and pulls her hand away. She thought she had got him over that whole jealous nonsense. She makes up her mind that at least she has his attention enough that he's still jealous. In her egocentric mindset, it doesn't occur to her that his question had more to do with Nate's relationship with a certain human rather than her usual selfish actions.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she sing-songs as she gets up from the table and marches out to the parking lot and he follows her. "You said you got me a new place? Let's go see it." She dangles the keys she swiped from him in front of him with a big grin on her face.

She slides into the passenger seat of his car, making herself perfectly at home. He has an overwhelming feeling of discomfort at the sight of Katherine sitting where Blair usually sat. The picture was all wrong and Katherine doesn't look like she belonged there. He tries to shake off the feeling as he turns the key in the ignition, but it doesn't fade.

xxx

Blair ends up pacing about her room after Nate left. Her mind was overwhelmed by the events of the past twenty-four hours.

"What did Nate want?" Damon asks. He had rush to her as soon as he had returned.

She's sure he had seen the Nate's spectacle from the window, but she answers him anyways.

"Me. He wants me to come back to New York with him," with a bit of hesitancy she adds, "He proposed."

There is was. She said it aloud. It's real now. Damon was hoping that Archibald just had a cramp in one leg.

She had spent a long time staying out there after Nate left thinking about everything he said. She hates that he brought up everything she was worried about herself. Hearing somebody else voice them made all of her doubts valid. Her time with Damon had been fun, but it's not real. He's a creature of make-believe and fiction and she's… human. She can't stay with him forever, especially not with Katherine back. She's been trying to ignore the truth, but she can't run away from it any longer. She would have to go back into the real world eventually and she could do a lot worse than returning with an Archibald on her arm and the Vanderbilt ring on her finger.

"I guess I don't need you to compel him after all."

"You're going back to him? Just like that?"

"No not just like that," she answers with her hands on her hips. "I… I'm just thinking about it is all."

Why does it feel like somebody just dropped an anvil on top of him?

"I thought you would be happy. It's not like you ever wanted to compel him in the first place. You're off the hook."

"Correction, I didn't want to compel him to propose to you. I was up for anything humiliating or possibly self-detrimental."

She gives him a pointed look only to quickly avert her eyes.

"Are you really serious?" he asks incredulously. "Come on, Blair. This is Nate. He betrayed you. With your best friend! You can't trust him. Are you really going to live with wool covers over your eyes forever?"

"Yes," she replies simply. "So long as they're cashmere."

Damon doesn't smile at her joke.

"You got Katherine back. What do you care?" she sighs, she sits herself down at a vanity table and proceeds to rearrange the contents in the usual neurotic Waldorf manner.

"I care," he insists, sitting himself across from her. How many times does he have to tell her for her to believe it?

"Don't. I'm not your responsibility. Honestly, Damon. What did you think was going to happen? Am I supposed to just follow you and Katherine around like some third wheel? I'm not even a vampire! I have to go on to live my own life."

"And that life is back in New York with Nate?"

"Maybe it is."

She pauses in her ministrations and look back up at him. Her mouth is set resolutely in the signature Waldorf fashion. But then why is it that he thinks her eyes are telling him to ask her to stay? Is it just his own wishful thinking? He doesn't have enough time to decipher complicated Blair Waldorf body language before she breaks their gaze.

"I'm going back to New York," she decides. "My mother is there and I haven't even informed the school yet. I've been gone for way longer than intended already. I need deal with real life."

"Real life," he repeats with a disgusted look on his face.

If Nate and New York is real life, then what the hell does that make him? A vacation?

"My mother must be freaking out. I have to go back and reassure her I haven't died in a ditch or something. I've been gone too long," she rationalizes.

"What about Natey boy and his proposal?"

"I still need time to think about that," she replies quickly. "One step at a time."

He doesn't want her to think about it. He doesn't want her to think about it at all.

"It's just… can you do something for me?" she asks almost shyly.

"What? Anything," He answers too quickly and he realizes that he sounds quite desperate, but he doesn't care.

He'd do anything. He wants to be able to offer her something no else can. He wants there to be a reason for her need him, to want him, to stay. Something that he can use as leverage to make her stay.

"Can you give me a ride back home? For old time's sake?"

There's a sense of finality to her request that makes him think that this is the last time he'll ever see her again and he finds himself hesitant to answer her.

"Yes. Yes, Blair. I'll take you home."

xxx

Packing is faster than she anticipated. She never realized just how little her possessions were here in Mystic Falls. Back in New York, she would have rooms and rooms filled with all her things. All she has here is a suitcase and Nate's jacket. It's all the more reason to go home right?

She strokes the Vanderbilt emblem stitched on jacket's lapel and her fingers trail down to pick up the sleeve with the heart charm. It's time let go of childish fantasies. Despite what Nate said about getting their Happily Ever After, Blair knows now that there is no such thing. Nate and Blair aren't the same two people anymore. Still, they have a lot in common, particularly in terms of their family's expectations, financial compatibility and future ambitions. Most of all he's somebody she can grow old with. In spite of his shortcomings, Nate was still quite a catch and they have a history. It makes sense to go back with him. She just wishes these thoughts sounded less like excuses in her head.

As she picks up Nate's jacket something small and indiscernible falls out of one the pockets. It's a soggy, smashed up, pitiable looking thing. Nate must have left it in his jacket when he threw it in the wash. She picks it up from the floor and stokes it with her thumb. From what she could tell it used to be a little pouch. She turns it over in her hands and that's when it hits her. There are symbols scrawled across the little charm. Symbols she has seen before. Symbols that she has helped write into the dirt of forest clearings and on wooden floors. She shakes out the contents onto the vanity table and her fears are confirmed. Among bits of stone, dead insects and pieces of dried herbs is a single strand of blonde hair.

Blair doesn't waste any time getting to the Bennett's house. She repeatedly slams the door with her fists, screaming for Bonnie until the teenage witch finally emerges in her slippers and robe, her hair in complete disarray.

"Blair? What's going on?" Bonnie asks with trepidation after seeing the enraged state of the other brunette.

"What's this?" she demands, holding up the small pouch with occult symbols. "I've helped you and Emily with your little magic spells long enough to recognize this as some sort of witchcraft."

"Blair-"

"Why was this in Nate's jacket?"

"Blair, just calm down."

"No! I will not calm down. What the hell is this?"

"It's just a truth spell," Bonnie tries explaining.

"A truth spell," she repeats incredulously.

Bonnie simply nods, as any unnecessary words might only further provoke the angered Immune.

"And why would Nate have a truth spell?"

"Damon was worried-"

"Damon did this?" The shock is apparent on her face.

Bonnie regrets not lying. The look on Blair's face is a mixture of hurt and betrayal which quickly transforms into rage. Without another word Blair pivots and marches down the porch steps and back towards the Salvatore house.

xxx

He had just come back from checking up on Katherine in her new lodgings and was in the middle of tossing his jacket on the couch in the living when she finds him.

"Hey-"

She throws the witch's charm at his face. He looks down at the mangled little trinket and then back at her face. Although the physical pain from her angry reaction is miniscule, the emotional pain is insurmountable.

"I can explain."

"Everyone told me that I couldn't trust you, but I didn't believe them. But you know what? They're right! How could you lie to my face like that?"

"I didn't lie. I told you I wouldn't compel him and I didn't!"

"Oh, big whoop! You got Bonnie to do it!"

"Only so that Nate would tell you the truth! It was for the greater good!"

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

The anger in her eyes change to something different. Something much more heartbreaking. Disappointment.

"The point was that I was naive to think that I was special. That you could deceive everybody else, but you wouldn't do that to me! I trusted you. I never thought that you could ever go behind my back. Not after everything. I was naïve, I know, but I never thought you would lie to me."

Damon has nothing to say to that.

"But you did," her voice is a hoarse whisper, teetering on tears.

"Blair..."

"Don't!"

She's hear that apologetic tone before. It never ends well.

"We're through, Salvatore. I'll get my own ride home."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

He reaches out for her, but she slaps his hand away violently.

"Don't touch me! Don't look at me, don't speak to me! I don't want to see you ever again. Consider that the favor you owed me."

He tells himself she's just angry, just upset at the moment. She doesn't mean what she says. She doesn't.

"We're even. There's nothing left between us anymore."

She doesn't even bother to take her stuff in her hurry to leave.

He stands there staring at the front door for a full hour after she slammed it shut behind her. He kept thinking she would turn around, any moment now. Any moment now and she'll come back. Come back. Come back.

She doesn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for such a belated update! I've been busy with the new school and the new country (studying abroad yo! XD) and so writing has been put on the backburner. Hopefully I'll get more time to write once things settle down. I actually had this insane idea about an Arthur (Inception)/Blair fic. Of course the idea of this insane pairing originally came from the amazing glitterite. So that might be making an appearance as well if anyone's interested. No promises on when the next update will be, but thank you to everyone who continues to support me and this fic! =D


	18. Chapter 18

New York is the same as she had left it. The streets are all the same, the people are all the same. There should be some sort of comfort in coming back and picking up where she left off, but nothing feels right. She's not the same anymore. The glittering city just doesn't seem as glamorous and inviting as she had remembered. For all its shiny lights and promises of fame and glory, she knows now that it is all just empty promises. There's no happy ending for her in New York. She knows this and she didn't come back to find a fairytale. She came back to escape from one. As harsh as reality is in the Big City it's preferable to the fantasy life she was living in Mystic Falls. The sounds of the city traffic add to her worsening migraine and she reaches a hand to her forehead in an attempt to rub the pain away.

She finds herself standing in front of her own house for a good fifteen minutes, just staring at it after her taxi leaves. Nobody knows she's back yet, not even Nate. If she wants to, she could disappear right now. Take the next plane out to somewhere far away and nobody would know. It's a tempting thought. It's easy to run. She wants to. Before she can make up her mind the door before her opens and she's greeted by the surprised face of her mother on her way out to yet another social function.

"Blair? What are you doing out here?"

She doesn't answer as her mother rushes towards her and clasp her shoulders a little too tightly. Suddenly she's aware of all the aches and pain in her body.

"Where have you been? Did you know that your school has been calling me saying that you haven't been going for the past month? I had to cut my trip to Milan short to come back here and when I do, I find out that you're not even home!"

The elder Waldorf's face is graced with a scowl that ruins the effects of the expensive Botox she injects on a weekly basis.

"Do you have any idea, young lady, what you have put me through?"

Her mother continues to ramble and rant, but she doesn't hear a thing.

"I'm going to go to my room now."

Her voice is calm and quiet. Her mother instantly stops talking; her anger is replaced with worry. Eleanor Waldorf looks clearly at her daughter for the first time. She's skinnier than before. Her hair is not as perfectly combed as it usually is and her eyes looked red rimmed with dark circles underneath them. She doesn't look at all like the usually put together girl Eleanor knows.

"Blair, are you alright?"

Eleanor reaches out to touch Blair's face, but she recoils violently from the touch.

"What? Are you pretending to care now?" Blair mocks.

"Young lady! I am your mother-"

Blair laughs a humorless laugh. "I was gone for more than a month, mother. For months," Blair emphasizes the plurality of the word, hissing it. "You had no idea where I was, who I was with, what I was doing. So tell me… what exactly qualifies you to call yourself my mother?"

Eleanor flinches at her cutting words. It's as if all of her hurt and anger were suddenly pouring out of her like water from a broken sink faucet.

"So don't pretend that you care," she accuses.

Blair looks up at the approaching black stretch limo coming to a stop in front of their house. The driver comes out and walks around the car to open the door.

"Mrs. Waldorf," the driver beckons.

Eleanor looks at the waiting vehicle and then back at her daughter.

"What are you waiting for? You're going to be late for your meeting or party or whatever. Don't let me stop you."

Without another word Blair pushes past her mother and marches into the house. Eleanor is left watching the door slam shut in her face.

xxx

The next day Blair puts on her uniform, brushes her hair to perfection and stuns Eleanor when she greets her with perfect civility across from the breakfast table as if the events of the night before never occurred.

"Good morning," Eleanor replies cautiously.

Blair manages to give her a tight lipped smile as she takes a sip from her orange juice.

"Anne Archibald sent over something for you earlier this morning. It's right there for you," Eleanor gestures unnecessarily at the package sitting besides Blair's breakfast plate.

Blair smiles and thanks her mother graciously before proceeding to carefully unwrap the package that the Archibald matriarch had taken such care to send over so early this morning. She finds a telltale velvet box inside and slips it into her skirt pocket before her mother's prying eyes manages to sneak a peek.

She takes her customary single bite of toast and one grape before she excuses herself and makes her way in the direction of Constance and St. Jude's. She walks into the Constance courtyard with indifference amidst all the wide-eyed stares and whispers like she had never left. All their snide glares and hushed conversations that stop as she passes by are noted for future reference, but at the moment ignored. She has more important things to think about than petty jealousies and resentment from disgruntled subjects, like a marriage proposal.

Nate doesn't waste any time and he finds her as she makes her way towards her first period class. She was sort of dreading it, but he has on a silly smile on his face and somehow it makes her feel better.

"You're back," he states unnecessarily.

She nods, shifting the weight of her book bag before he takes it from her. It was such a familiar gesture, Nate carrying her books and walking her to class. It was easier than she thought to fall back into old routines.

"How was the trip back?"

"As good as any eight hour taxi ride could be I suppose."

"Are you tired? Maybe you should go home early today."

She's surprised by how genuine his concern actually sounds. This was the kind of attention she had always wanted from him, but he never gave. It's so ridiculous how things turned out that she laughs. Her life is such a complete utter mess that she can't help but find it funny.

His eyebrows knit in puzzlement, but he's smiling too, glad to see her laughing even though he doesn't know why. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she manages between giggles. "I'm not tired. Besides, I've missed so much school already. My father can only sign so many checks."

They arrive in front of her history class and hover about the entrance in silence. Across the foyer she spots Chuck smoking in a corner with some new buddies. Nate follows her line of sight and notices his ex-BFF as well.

"He's still not talking to me," Nate sighs. "I tried, but I think he's been waiting for you to forgive me first before he'd forgive me."

"I see…"

"But do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Forgive me?"

"I… I don't hate you."

It's not exactly what Nate wanted to hear, but it's a start.

Chuck notices her watching him and pauses, cigarette in mid air. He and Nate lock eyes for a brief moment before he returns his gaze on her. A breeze blows by and she reaches up with her left hand to brush a strand of hair of her face. Chuck takes a long drag out of his cigarette and blows a perfect circle of smoke in her direction before looking away. She instantly freezes, her fingers still caught in her hair. She tries to subtly shove her hand into her pockets, but it's too late. Astronauts could probably spot the thing from space, that's how big and sparkly the damn diamond was. She was careless.

"You're wearing my ring," Nate points out.

She looks down at the big shiny diamond on her left hand. It glints prettily in the morning sunshine. She was stupid for having forgotten to take it off when she had tried it on earlier in the confines of the ladies' room. She just wanted to see how it would look like on. It was heavier than she had remembered it to be, the diamond akin to lead on her finger. She would have taken it off, but girls had started piling into the room, so she merely shoved her hands into her pockets and made her way out.

"Blair?"

She's shaken from the trance induced by the twinkling of the diamond ring and snaps her attention back to Nate.

"Yes. I'm wearing your ring," Blair answers belatedly.

"Does that mean…" Nate prods hopefully.

What does it mean? She's not sure herself. She can feel the curious stares in her direction. It's been awhile since the school got their dose of Golden Couple drama and they're all itching for something juicy. As little as she cares for her idiotic, mindless peers, she understands the power behind leading such sheep, stupid as they may be. All the same anxiety, insecurity and ambition she's ever had comes pouring back.

"Blair?"

Why is it that she can't answer him? Nate wants to marry her. Nate Archibald wants to marry her. What does she have left to lose? Nothing. What does she have left to gain? Everything. The decision should be an easy one and yet she finds it difficult to find an answer that doesn't make her want to empty the contents of her stomach.

"Yes."

It's been awhile since she played the part of a queen, but it's about time she reclaimed her throne. Blair Waldorf was never meant to live a life on the sidelines, she was always meant to be up there shining in the spotlight with the rest of New York royalty. It's where she belongs. It's all she knows.

"Yes?"

"It means yes," she says, this time more confidently. "I'll marry you, Archibald."

His smile shines brighter than the sunlight reflecting off the white cobblestones in the courtyard and it's blinding.

xxx

She gets through the rest of her school day on autopilot, relying on muscle memory to remember how to walk, where to sit on the steps, who to snub. She catches Chuck in the middle of yet another smoking session after lunch and finds her feet taking her towards his direction. She stops in front of him and he blows smoke into her face.

"Back with Nate I see. So what? Now everything goes back to the way it was?"

She snatches away his cigarette and crushes underneath the heel of her foot.

"Yes. And I would appreciate it if you would play along."

"What happened to Salvatore?"

Chuck notices how her features freeze for a second from the mention of his name before she regains control.

"I no longer care to speak or hear the name Salvatore, so please refrain from mentioning him in my presence."

"I told you he was bad news."

"You also told me Nate was a good guy," she throws back.

"You're back with him now aren't you?" he replies, reaching for another cigarette in his jacket.

She crushes that one underneath her foot too.

"Hey! That was my last one, Waldorf!"

"You're going to kill yourself at the rate you're smoking those things."

"We aren't friend anymore, what do you care?" he sneers.

"I need you," she says simply.

He wants to retort with something lecherous or sleazy, but her stern expression stops him.

"I need you to talk with Nate again. I need you two to be okay so that we can be okay. I need things to go back to normal. I need you to help convince me that this isn't all a mistake."

Her voice has a tinge of desperation in it that gives him pause.

"I need you to be my friend because I have no one and I need someone, even if it's you."

She scrunches her nose at the end, but it's a familiar gesture and it's the first time she has felt like herself since she got back.

"Besides, I think you've been hanging out with the lower class long enough. You're starting to almost look like one of them. Before you know it you'll be slumming it in Brooklyn like that Dan Humphrey kid."

"You're really selling me there with those flattering words, Waldorf."

Even though he says it in a sarcastic tone, she knows he's already agreed. He despises the company of the shallow minded scumbags that hang around him because of Bart's money. The bottom feeders of the Upper East Side's excess and exuberance that latches onto those higher ranked than them hoping to be thrown some scraps of fame and glory. They make for good underlings, but horrible friends.

He misses the company of Blair's sharp tongue, Nate's easy-going nature and Serena's endless potential for amusement. He misses the companionship of their little Breakfast Club as cliché as that may sound. Aside from his father, he cares about no one else. Contrary to popular belief Chuck Bass does have a heart. It's just that he only has room for a fixed quota. Sometimes he himself forgets that so Blair has to remind him. Despite the indifferent front he puts on, he's the one who had been waiting for her forgiveness and he'd take whatever lifeline she'd throw him.

"Chuck, I need you to do this for me. Can you do it?"

"I don't know if I can be friends with him again," he answers quietly. "It wasn't just about you and him. We have our own issues."

"Well get over it," she says in the typical condescending Blair manner. "Because I am going to need my boys not to be fighting when I'm trying to reestablish my throne. Penelope is already plotting a coup as it is. The last thing I need is to deal with you and Nate's lovers quarrel."

Chuck narrows his eyes at her.

"Don't be such a girl!" She swats at his arm. "He really is sorry…" she adds softly.

"Do you actually believe that?"

"… Yeah, I do. And if it's good enough for me, then it should be for you."

By fifth period, she has both Nate and Chuck walk her to Latin. They might be missing one member, but their united front is enough. You can try and take down a Waldorf, but you can't take down a Waldorf, an Archibald and a Bass. Needless to say order is restored and minions put back in their place. By sixth period she has the mean girls groveling at her feet and crowds parting before her like Moses and the Red Sea.

On the way home from school, Nate points out to her some nice looking luxury real estate that is up for sale. He makes an offhanded comment about how nice it would be if they could move in together in a place like that after college. She had given him a forced smile in return, her thoughts tracing back about a certain big white house and a picnic on the floor, to dark hair and icy blue eyes. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts and grasps Nate's arm a little more tightly than necessary.

The girls from the steps throw her a belated birthday party (she hadn't even noticed that it had passed by). A whole year older and she doesn't feel any wiser. Nate is by her side dressed handsomely in what she picked out for him without so much as a complaint. He whispers sweet words to her throughout the evening, tells her he loves her over and over, and Chuck gives her expensive lacey lingerie with an accompanying lecherous smirk. When the cake comes out she blows out her candles knowing that none of her wishes will come true.

Five days later she sleeps with Nate for the first time in a room lit with candles, on silk sheets and rose petals like she had always wanted. Nate planned everything from the champagne bottles to the romantic music playing softly in the background. He kisses her eyelids afterwards and holds her as he falls asleep. She feels empty afterwards. Their engagement party is planned for next Saturday. In the meantime she's become the undisputed Queen B once more, fancy parties and limo rides all part of the daily routine. Life goes on oh so perfectly and she cries herself to sleep missing a place and a person that she never belonged with.

xxx

Blair's been gone for five days and he's reverted back to his old ways. Katherine constantly wears a smile that resembles that of the cat that ate the canary. She is restless and anxious to leave, but Damon stalls. He tells himself he's not waiting for Blair to come back. He's not. So what if she comes back and he wasn't there? So what if she needed to find him? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. And yet a week passes and he stays exactly where he is. But all of this is for nothing because Blair doesn't come back. He learns to tolerate cold kisses and cold caresses, even if he's getting frostbite.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Stefan confronts him, pulling him down from the tabletop he was dancing on top of. Katherine is in a corner dining on a waitress. The bartender is already dead, his body getting cold where it lies on the floor. Music from the jukebox plays a melody that Damon ignores. The rhythms of his movement unsynchronized and disjointed, like a puppet pulled by broken strings.

"Hello, Stefan. Care to join us?" he smiles as he takes a swig from a bottle of whiskey, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

All around them tables and chairs lay strewn about, broken glass litters the floor. A few bar patrons are crouching in a corner, too afraid to even run. One of them soiled himself and the stench mixes with the metallic scent of blood. Stefan turns his attention to them, wipes their minds and sends them all home.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Maybe…" Damon finishes the bottle and tosses it on the floor where it smashes into a million little sharp pieces. "Probably."

"Damon, this isn't like you," Stefan tries softly.

"Of course it's like me! This is who I am. It's who I'm supposed to be! It's you who's pretending."

"Why are you doing this?"

Damon violently shrugs off Stefan's attempt to reach him. "Get off of me. This is none of your business anyways. I'm tired of your sermons."

"It's my business when you don't keep your promises," Stefan accuses.

Damon brushes him off and goes in search for another bottle. He looks through various empty ones, ignoring the ones in bright neon pinks and blues and going for the harder stuff. His fingers clasp around the neck of a bottle of vintage wine. The beginning of a dangerous memory about ruby lips and wine glasses starts to form in his head but before it could be completed Stefan's hand on his shoulder shakes him out of his reverie.

"No! You don't get to walk away that easily," Stefan hisses, slapping the bottle in Damon's hand to the ground. "You said that you were taking Katherine away from Mystic Falls. Instead you've been going around breaking into bars, killing waitresses and busboys and I'm the one cleaning up the mess! You're drawing attention to us!"

"Who cares? It's not like the village vampire hate group can do anything about it," Damon mocks. "They can't stop us! They're nothing more than a pathetic group of scared humans with pitch forks. We're immortal! Relish it, embrace it, Stefan. It's who we are."

"Is this about Blair?"

Damon's smile instantly drops.

"Is that why you're staying here? Wreaking havoc wherever you go? You'd think that she'd come back if she hears about what a downward spiral you've fallen into? Is that it?"

"Don't talk about Blair," Damon whispers dangerously.

"What do you think you can achieve? She left and instead of chasing after her, you're throwing a temper tantrum," Stefan goads.

"I said, don't talk about her!" He punctuates his command by shoving Stefan through a window.

Katherine finally notices all the commotion and drops her dying waitress unceremoniously onto the bloodstained floor.

"What's going on here?"

Damon turns to look at her with a smile. "Nothing. Stefan was just being the usual wet blanket. Trying to ruin the mood with his philosophical ramblings and self-righteous indignation."

Stefan picks himself up from the rubble, shaking the glass shards from his sleeves.

"Damon… This isn't the way to get her back."

"Get who back?" Katherine inquires suspiciously.

"Nobody," Damon answers a little too quickly.

Katherine doesn't look quite convinced, but she doesn't push the topic.

"You got some blood on your cheek. Here let me get it for you." He leans over and licks it off, smiling smugly. She smiles back and licks her lips before pulling his head down to crash her lips against his.

"You missed a spot," Katherine whispers devilishly after kissing him thoroughly. Her toothy grin glints like light reflecting off of razor blades. Turning to Stefan she smiles smugly. "Enjoying the show? Maybe you'd care to join us."

Stefan narrows his eyes and grits his teeth, but doesn't say a word.

"Don't bother with Stefan. He'd only ruin the fun. What do you say you and I get out of here?" Damon draws Katherine's attention back by stroking his ringed hand along her jaw line, tilting her chin up for another kiss. "This place is a dump."

Katherine's face lights up. "Really? We're leaving? I was getting tired of bartenders and waitresses. Where would we go?"

"Anywhere you want."

She turns about and paces about, a finger resting against her cheek in thought. "What about the city?"

"The city? What city?" Damon asks, pulling Katherine into his arms. She draws idyllic circles on his chest with her nail. They're a little too sharp for pleasure. She draws an "X" over his heart, as if to mark her territory, before she answers him.

"What about New York?"

Katherine watches the expression on his face carefully. Stefan waits for his response as well.

Damon merely smiles a beguiling smile and answers easily, "Anything you want."

Katherine narrows her eyes, somehow not quite satisfied with his answer even though it's the one she wanted. "Well… maybe not New York. I think it's overrated. Maybe France. I'm tired of the Americas. I wonder if French people taste like French wine. What do you say? We could go to the countryside vineyards and sample some Parisians."

"I don't think that's a wise idea," Stefan injects.

Katherine rolls her eyes towards the younger Salvatore and Stefan stares right back determinately.

"You're right… Stefan's a real killjoy," Katherine drawls condescendingly. "Let's get out of here. The corpses are starting to smell."

As they are about to leave, Stefan tries one more time, catching Damon's elbow just as he's about to cross the threshold.

"Damon, we still need to talk."

Damon looks like he's about to refuse, but Stefan looks at him meaningfully and it gives him pause.

"Please."

Katherine is standing in the parking lot, her hands on her hips, one foot taping away impatiently. With hesitance, Damon turns away from his brother to face his impatient girlfriend.

"I'll meet you back at the house. Just give me a sec."

Katherine rolls her eyes, but complies. He watches as her figure blurs away into the distant horizon before turning to Stefan.

"Well? What more do you want to say?"

"Do you really think it's wise to go on an international food tour with Katherine?"

"You're the one who wants us to leave. So we're leaving. I don't get what's getting your tighty whities in a bunch now."

"Don't play dumb, Damon. What about Blair?"

"What about her?" he scoffs.

"You know that Katherine was messing with you earlier, don't you?"

"I wasn't born yesterday, Stefan."

"Well then what are you doing baiting her?"

"I'm doing no such thing. Katherine does whatever Katherine wants. It doesn't matter what I say or do about it."

"And if she wants Blair dead?"

"That's not going to happen," Damon bites out.

"So you do care."

Damon looks away, rummaging through the bar for yet another bottle, but coming up empty handed.

"You care," Stefan enthuses. "Go after her! If she means so much, then tell her!"

"It doesn't matter. She made her decision. Her life is in New York and I'm not part of it. It would never work out anyways."

"Maybe it can… if you really love her-"

Damon laughs. "Love," he drawls, "is the root of all our problems. It's not the antidote, it's the poison."

"So what? You pick the easier path. Katherine-"

"You're talking out of your ass if you think Katherine is the 'easier' path."

"You know, Damon… I know you're a lot of things, but I didn't know a coward was one of them."

"Well, we can't all be like you, Stefan."

Finally he spots a half full bottle wedge between two crates at the corner his eye and downs the contents in a single gulp. It leaves him feeling emptier.

Stefan gasps his shoulder and spins him around so they can come face to face. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want Blair back. Tell me that you're happier with Katherine, indulging in her bloodlust and insanity." Damon opens his mouth, but Stefan doesn't actually let him say anything. "It's not healthy! She's not good for you!"

"Look," Damon sighs exasperatedly, "Are you about done here? Because I'm running out of booze and Katherine is waiting and you know she hates waiting."

"Katherine is a manipulative, evil bitch! How many times do I have to tell you before you believe it? She compelled us!"

"No. Everyone else, but not me. I knew what I was doing. It was real!"

It has to be. He refuses to think that those hundred and fifty years were wasted. It's everything he has ever known. If his love for Katherine wasn't real, then what is? Nothing had been more real to him than Katherine. He refuses to believe it.

"Fine, maybe she didn't compel you. But that doesn't stop her from manipulating those around you. Don't you think she was a little too pleased about Blair's sudden departure?"

It's not the first time such a thought has come to his mind, but Damon refuses to acknowledge it. Nevertheless, those niggling thoughts are there. Something just didn't feel right about Nate's sudden proposal. Damon's had time to observe the young Archibald and it just wasn't in his style. Even if it was in a desperate attempt to win Blair back he couldn't have thought of such a scheme. He's just not that smart. Everything fell apart so easily, a little too neatly.

"Think about, Damon. Is Katherine really that trustworthy?"

Stefan's parting accusations haunt him no matter how deep he buries his thoughts. He tries to get Katherine to spill on what she and the blonde bobble head were talking about that night, but she's tight-lipped. She evades his questions with kisses and not so gentle caresses. He's getting nowhere and the questions consume him. In an act of desperation he goes to Bonnie for another truth spell because he thinks the witch might just hate Katherine a little bit more than she hates him. Besides, Bonnie already feelings partly responsible for Blair's deception and Damon is not above playing dirty to get what he wants. He hasn't learned his lesson the first time around.

"What do you think you're doing here? We have no business with one another anymore," the witch greets him coldly.

"I need you to do me another favor."

"And why would I do that? You think I don't know what you've been up to? What you and Katherine have been up to? This is my home, Damon. You don't go around messing with my people and then come here expecting me to do you a favor."

"It's about Blair."

"What about Blair? She's gone back home, where she's safe. This has nothing to do with her anymore."

The witch is right. Blair's safe. At least for now. The farther away she is from him and Katherine the better really. Maybe he's just being selfish.

"Never mind. I shouldn't have bothered you. I'm sorry."

He turns around, gets three steps down the porch before Bonnie's voice calls him back.

"Wait!" Bonnie calls out. "W-what did you want anyways?" The moment the words leave her lips she already regrets them, but there was a time when she could almost call him friend. Despite everything Damon has done, Blair is still counted among the few people Bonnie is sure he still cares out. It just so happens that Bonnie cares about her as well. Bonnie has always been a loyal sort.

"Those truth spells of yours… do they work on vampires?"

"… It can… why?" Bonnie questions suspiciously.

"Can you make it work on Katherine?"

"This is already starting to sound like a bad idea. And I thought you and her were thick as thieves."

"Can you?" he repeats firmly.

"Yes," Bonnie sighs. "But why?"

"The less you know the better."

"Well it's not like Katherine is any friend of mine… but are you sure you want another one?" Bonnie asks him.

"Yes." His answer is resolute.

She shakes her head disapprovingly, but sure enough by the next day he has another one of those charms in his hands.

xxx

Damon finds himself walking the entire five miles to the empty house by the lake where Katherine is currently staying in. She rushes out to kiss him just as he arrives and he fights to avoid flinching from the cold of her embrace.

"What did you say to Nate that night?" he whispers as he pulls away from their kiss.

"Ugh, are you going on about that again?" Katherine sighs exasperatedly. "Why are you obsessing? You're making me jealous of Nate Archibald."

Her words sound more threatening than it does affectionate.

"Just curious…"

"It was nothing," she emphasizes.

His hands are still around her hips and he slips the charm into her back pocket.

"Nothing at all?" he asks.

"We talked about Blair Waldorf," she blurts out.

Katherine's face takes on a look of puzzlement at her slip of tongue.

"And why would you do that?"

"Simple curiosity. I just wanted to get to know her better," Katherine answers flippantly. "Why does it matter now? She's gone."

She doesn't know why she has a peculiar urge to spill her guts, but something feels fishy. She breaks away from his embrace and marches back into the house. He follows her.

"What did he tell you?" Damon presses.

She opens her mouth with a lie posed at the tip of her tongue, but for some reason the truth comes out instead.

"All about her white picket fence dream. The plans for their impending nuptials. How he ruined it all when he cheated on her. She's such a tragic little thing isn't she? She was so in love with him."

Damon chooses to ignore her last statement.

"Did he tell you about the proposal?"

Katherine laughs. "Oh god no! He wanted her back, but he never even thought of that. That boy may be sweet on the eyes, but he's not quite the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Then… why? Was it spontaneous?"

"He asked because I compelled him to," Katherine answers simply.

"You… you compelled Nate? Why would you do that?"

"Because she was your precious little Immune and I don't like to share. Because I didn't like her. Because I just felt like it," Katherine answers dismissively.

"Do you ever care about anyone, but yourself? You had no right!"

"I don't get why you are getting upset, it's what she wanted. You weren't going to do it, so I did. I did her a favor! Besides it was the only way to get rid of her. She was being a third wheel!"

His head was spinning. Stefan was right. She compelled Nate. She's really quite capable of anything and if Stefan was right about this what else is he right about? Does that mean she had compelled him too? It doesn't seem like such a stretch anymore. Now is the time to find out. He won't have another chance again.

"Was it ever real?"

"Was what ever real?"

"You and me. You compelled Stefan, you compelled Nate… compulsion seems to be your second nature. So tell me. Did you compel me too?"

"Damon… Where is this coming from?"

"Stefan warned me," he pauses to watch her expression. "But I told him that it was real. That what I felt for you couldn't possibly be because of the compulsion. I believed that and I searched for you for the most part of a century and a half. I gave up everything for you."

She's not saying yes, but she's not saying no either.

"Was it real?" He screams at her, fangs bared and heart in his throat.

"What difference does it make? You were happy weren't you?" she replies simply, not at all affected by his sudden temper.

"Did you ever even really love me? What was I to you? Just another guy? Somebody you could manipulate? Did you ever care for me?"

Conflicting emotions race across her face, as if her brain wants to say one thing, but her tongue wants her to say another.

"Did you ever love me?" Desperation creeps into his voice despite his effort to keep it bottled in.

"No."

So there it is. The raw naked truth.

"But you were a Salvatore. Your family had a strong influence over the town and I knew about your father and his little anti-vampire business. I was supposed to kill him you know. You and Stefan were a bonus. Funny how things turned out. Stefan did the dirty deed for me. I always thought it would be you. You were always so much more obedient. Of course he did get me thrown into that hellhole, so I guess it evens things out."

"You used me."

"So I did. You weren't complaining."

"I thought I loved you. You manipulated me into loving you.*"

"It's all in the past, Damon. Like you said, we can start anew this time."

She reaches for his face, but he slaps it viciously away.

"No. We're done."

"What do you mean, 'we're done'? It's not over until I say it is!"

He walks away with him screaming his name.

Nothing ever mattered. Nothing was ever real. But it's okay because they were never in love anyways. Somewhere among the shattered pieces of all he's ever known, there's a sense of relief. He just needs to pick himself up from the ruins first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *True Blood reference! Because I love me some good vampire tv. =)
> 
> A/N: Phew! This chapter was a long time coming. I've been so busy with school and writing boring, non-Damon/Blair stuff that I didn't really have any time to sit down and work on this fic. I can't promise that I will get more out soon, but I am trying my best. That being said, I loved the season two premiere of TVD. Believe or not but I'm actually a huge Damon/Katherine shipper for the TV series. Nina Dobrev does evil good. Until next time! Thanks for all your continued support!


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Finally some much needed Damon/Blair interaction. I was really happy to write this chapter because Damon and Blair have both been so angsty and just down right mope-y and I missed writing their fun banter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed. This fic is starting to wind down to the last few chapters, so I hope you all continue to follow me till the end! Thanks a lot for all the reviews and comments! Keep them up! =D

"Go ahead."

Damon pushes past his brother and makes a beeline to the bottles of whiskey and vodka.

"Say it."

"Say what?" Stefan plays along as he shuts the front door behind him.

Damon raises his glass to Stefan as if in a toast before he downs it in one gulp.

"Say… 'I told you so"."

Stefan crosses his arms

"Katherine compelled me. A century and a half. Wasted."

"Damon…" Stefan begins, unfolding his arms and moving towards his brother.

"Nuh nuh nuh!" Damon tsks, waggling his finger as Stefan's proximity gets closer. "I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity. It's concern," Stefan clarifies. "You know, because I care about you."

"After all I have done… to you, to Elena… to this town. Why would you? I got what I deserved."

"Because I know that it wasn't really you-"

"No. Don't make excuses for me. Everything I've done… every single person I've hurt. That's all on me."

"The fact that you are owning up to it mean you're not all that bad. And it doesn't matter what you've done. I'm your brother and I love you."

"How could anybody love somebody like me?" his tone turns from glib to hoarse and full of self-loathing.

"Blair did."

Another swig of amber liquor empties the bottle.

He chuckles. "That train has left the station," he replies, back to being dismissive.

"Well then buy another ticket and get on another one. It's about the destination, not the train."

When Damon refuses to get up from his position, sprawled on the couch, Stefan throws his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"She'll never forgive me."

"Why don't you try apologizing first and see what happens."

"It's too late…"

"Stop torturing yourself. You're just trying to find excuses to be unsatisfied and unhappy. It's never too late. Seize the moment!"

"Katherine still needs to be dealt with. I kind of just walked out on her… I doubt she'll be in a good mood."

"I can handle Katherine."

"Have you forgotten the last time she got you naked and stabbed?"

"I thought she was Elena."

"Last time I checked they both still have the same face so the chance of being fooled twice isn't as unlikely as you'd like to think."

"Elena and I have developed a system for that."

"Oooh, a system. Sounds fancy."

"Damon," Stefan warns. "Stop deflecting."

"Can't you just let me wallow in peace." He hugs a pillow to his chest, determined to wallow.

"Damon, stop being a whiner and get up off your ass and go find Blair," Stefan sighs. "Besides… what do you got to lose?"

His pride? His dignity? No. He already lost a hundred and fifty years of his life chasing after a manipulative, demented, psychotic bitch. Time wasted by being her naïve, obedient little pet. Risk getting hurt? He's already hurting. He doesn't expect that it could hurt any worse. He's got nothing to lose. It doesn't take too much longer for him to make up his mind.

"Thanks for the pep talk."

Damon pushes himself off the couch, set his glass on the coffee table and pats Stefan on the shoulder as he makes his way to the door. He drives for eight hours straight and winds up in front of the Waldorf house.

xxx

He's the last person she expected.

"What are you doing here?"

"You forgot your stuff in your hurry to leave," he gestures towards the two suitcases by his side.

He flashes her his most disarming smile, but she's not having any of it. She's Blair Waldorf so of course it won't be easy.

"Can we talk?"

She crosses her arm defiantly, ready to launch into some scathing monologue about what a jerk he is, but the look on his face stops her. He's smiling, but it looks like that smile would crack at any moment. He looks oddly… fragile.

"Where's Katherine?" Blair asks, trying to peek over his shoulders. "Is she with you?"

The wince he wasn't careful enough to hide tells her everything.

"It's over."

"How can it be over? Everything you did was for her. Katherine this. Katherine that. It was positively nauseating," she says with an eye roll.

"Yes, I have realized that I have been a fool for a long, long time."

He thought the moment he slammed the door on the way out he'd be able to get over Katherine. After all they weren't even in love. It was all just mind games and illusion. But the moment she is mentioned he freezes up. He doesn't like that Katherine is still capable of upsetting him. Granted, it has been less than twenty-four hours since he had become enlightened.

"What happened? What did she do?"

"Typical Katherine behavior. She compelled me. She used me to get close to my dad. And it wasn't even for a scandalous reason," he jokes.

She doesn't laugh.

"It was all a lie. Everything was a lie. I went through all that trouble for something that wasn't even real."

Blair has never been a fan of Katherine, that much has been clear from the start, but she didn't want this for him. There were many ways she would go about getting rid of Katherine Pierce, but not at the cost of his heartbreak.

"I've always been the one to tell you to let go of Nate, but it seems like I'm the one who doesn't know how to let go."

"I'm sorry."

She doesn't know what else to say. There doesn't exist any words that could quantify just how much her heart breaks for him.

"Don't be. I'm not sorry," he declares dismissively. "I'm relieved!"

That fragile smile of his comes out again, but it doesn't reach his eyes. His jaw ticks in that way it does when he's upset. She reaches out and touches the spot. He brings up his hand to cover hers.

"Do you want to go get a drink?"

His eyes are pleading for her to say yes, so she does. For the moment everything that had happened between them is forgotten. She just knows that he needs her and so she's going to be there for him.

xxx

He finds them an empty, closed pub, breaks open the lock and makes himself at home. He plunks himself down at the deserted bar and fixes himself up a drink. He's gone through two shots of whiskey before she even has time to sit herself down next to him. If he was anyone else, she would have been worried for his health.

"Are you going to just stare at me or are you going to take a drink?" he asks, when she makes no motion to join him.

He pours her a glass of scotch and she downs it in one gulp. For awhile they have a routine worked out. He'd pour and she'd drink.

"Don't you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what? About how I wasted a century chasing after a daydream? How the woman I thought I loved was basically a combination of a spoilt, bored vampire and some mind tricks? I'm good, thanks," he retorts sharply, slamming his drink down on the table hard enough to crack the glass.

He was able to put up a good enough front for Stefan, but now here with Blair the wounds feels fresh again and his mask is slipping.

He realizes this is not the way to go about repairing his relationship with Blair, but he's nervous and edgy and a billion other things. He's so used to self-sabotage he doesn't know how to function any other way. Maybe rejection would be easier if he knows he messed it up on purpose.

Blair is a bit miffed at his attitude. He's the one asking her to drink with him and now he's building walls around himself and making caustic comments when she was only concerned.

"It's not like it is any worse than what you've done to more than a handful of girls," she points out.

"Yeah, yeah. Karma's a real bitch."

She leans over to him and whispers in his ear, "So is Katherine."

He looks back at her seriously and for a moment she thinks she made him angry, but his lips curl into a genuine smile and she smiles back.

"I'll drink to that," he declares, raising his glass.

They clink their glasses and toast Damon's new found freedom. They continue the evening with more shots and badmouthing Damon's ex-vampire beau.

"You know... it's not really fair that I'm the only one who's going to get smashed."

He chuckles. "I can't exactly do anything about that now can I? Vampires just have better perks than Immunes."

She gives him a dirty look and tries to kick his shins, but he evades her pointy heels.

"But if it makes you feel any better, I'm currently in a very vulnerable state, so you can take advantage of me if you want. In fact I insist!"

She rolls her eyes and ignores his flirty comment much to his disappointment.

"I'm just saying. I'm supposed to be helping you drown your sorrows, but at this rate I don't know if I can stand up straight by myself."

"And here I thought Blair Waldorf was a girl who knew how to hold her liquor."

"We've finished like four bottles!"

"I drank three out of the four!"

"You're undead! You can't get alcohol poisoning!"

"Technicality," he replies, waving off her logic.

"Why do you keep on drinking when it doesn't even affect you?"

"Because I like to pretend that it does. It gives me an excuse."

"An excuse? For what?"

"For telling the truth."

"You don't need to drink to do that." With a sly smile, she adds, "You could just get Bonnie to make you a truth spell."

Ouch. He had thought she had forgotten about that little lapse in judgment. He should've known better. Blair Waldorf never really forgets anything. He just hopes she forgives better than she forgets.

"You know that I didn't want to hurt you, right?"

"I know… I got hurt anyways."

"Blair…"

"No. It's okay. It's not your fault that Nate slept with Serena. You only made him tell me what he should've told me without help from a magic spell."

They fall into a melancholic silence. Five minutes ticks by and Damon's sick of it.

"When did we get so… emo?" he declares. "We are so much better than this. We shouldn't be moping around, we should be partying!"

A smile is playing on her lips again and he wants to keep it there. He spins her around on the bar stool and catches her when she falls out of it laughing.

"What are you doing?" she asks breathlessly.

"Having fun. And you're going to join me."

xxx

They spend the rest of the night dancing on tabletops, singing out of tune and mixing all sorts of crazy concoctions and daring each other to drink it. For the moment, they're just Damon and Blair again. This is the best either of them has felt in a long time.

Eventually the buzz of all the alcohol dies down and Blair is starting to get sleepy. She pillows her cheek with her hand against the cold tabletop of the bar while he makes a mountain out of shreds of a paper napkin besides her.

"So… are you back with Nate?"

He just had to ask.

"Yes," she replies sleepily.

Of course she is. On paper Nate Archibald is perfect and Blair chooses her boyfriends based on their resumes and bank reports. He knew the answer before he even asked, but he wanted to hear her say it. He'll be content enough with just having her, anyway he can have her. Even that means watching her be with some other guy. He tells himself that and yet the next question still stumbles out of his mouth.

"Why?"

He doesn't want her to know about Katherine's involvement in Nate's proposal. He's not going to be the one that breaks her heart again, but maybe... just maybe it doesn't matter because she's not in love with Nate. At least he sincerely hopes she doesn't.

"Because…" She trails off, closing her eyes. Because I couldn't be with you.

She struggles to come up with a better lie, something he won't be able to see through, because she can't tell him the truth.

Blair's eyelids open and close languidly, her slow, steady breath fogs up the glass top of the bar.

"Don't fall asleep now," he complains.

"I'm just thinking…" She yawns. "Of the answer…"

She continues to keep her eyes closed, but moves to lay her head down on his shoulder. He doesn't move, he doesn't breathe, he doesn't want this moment to ever end. The heartbreak of Katherine's selfishness dissipating as the body heat from Blair's cheek warms his cold shoulder. You'd think he'd be more cautious with such romantic notions after that betrayal, but he starts to think that eternity might not be so bad with Blair by his side.

"Liar. You're falling asleep," he whispers.

"I'm just resting my eyes for a moment," she murmurs.

He doesn't argue. She turns her face up towards his when their silence goes past ten seconds.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Is there something in particular you want me to say? I thought you were sleeping."

"I told you, I was just resting my eyes."

"Uh huh."

He notices that her eyelashes are long, so long that they graze her cheeks when she blinks. Was she always this beautiful?

"I've had a lot to drink."

"Mm," he agrees.

"I think I'm a bit drunk."

He reaches to brush back a stray strand of hair and his hand lingers above her cheek. "Probably."

"If you were a nice guy you'd take me home."

"We both know that I'm not a nice guy," he whispers conspiratorially.

"You're not," she answers scathingly.

He smirks and shifts in his seat so that she'd be more comfortable leaning against him.

"Are you happy?" he asks as he traces an indiscernible pattern on his shot glass with one finger.

"Happy… isn't the right word."

"Then why?"

He doesn't need to elaborate further. She knows he's talking about Nate. He seems to be fixated on this topic.

"Because…"

She looks away and he turns her to face him again.

"No. You need to answer this time."

She looks up at him with those big brown doe eyes of hers.

"Why Nate?"

"Because…because you-"

He kisses her then and so she doesn't get to finish her sentence.

He kisses her like he's been wanting since she left. There's no Katherine or Nate in the audience this time. He's not kissing her to make a point or to rile up some reaction from a third party. In fact they are the furthest thing from his mind. There's nobody else, except for them.

All those doubts he had, they disappear like fog in the sunshine the moment her hands snake around him and she kisses him back. Third time is the charm. It only took him a slap and a jealous ex-boyfriend the two times around. But this time, this time it's all them.

He makes sure that she can feel just how much he has missed her with his kisses. Her mouth is hot against his and all that frostbite he's got from Katherine begins to melt. Her fingers tickle the back of his neck as she runs them through his hair and he smiles into the kiss.

All their issues, Nate, Katherine, Vampires, Immunes, everything is still all up in the air, but it doesn't matter. All he knows is that right now all is right with the world. He's exactly where he's suppose to be, doing exactly what he's suppose to be doing, with exactly the right person he's suppose to be doing it with. And that person isn't Katherine. And he's more than okay with that. More than more than okay. He's the happiest he's ever been.

xxx

"Who are you thinking about?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"You only kiss me when you're missing her."

They both know who "her" is so she doesn't elaborate.

"So tell me… do I make a good substitute?"

It doesn't escape her notice that his types are brown eyed brunettes. She wonders if that's what attracted him to her in the first place. How much she resembled Katherine. A sufficient body double for when he couldn't have the real thing. He says he was compelled, but it must have felt real. And if it felt so real, then how can he say it wasn't real?

"No one else."

Katherine and Blair have often been likened to one another: calculating, spoiled, bratty, manipulative. But their similarities are really quite superficial. Despite all of her barbed comments, her strong sense of entitlement and superiority over others, Blair wears her heart on her sleeve. Her mask of nonchalance and indifference constantly slipping and she would often scramble to keep up appearances. Katherine on the other hand… has no heart to speak of and if there's one thing that can't be substituted, it's the heart. To Damon, the distinction is quite clear.

"Only you. It's always been just you. Every single time we've kissed. It was always you on my mind. I never thought about anybody else and that should've been the first sign."

"The first sign for what?"

"The first sign that I was falling in love with you."

He's like a puppet master pulling on her heart strings. She almost hates how much power he has over her emotions. He brushes a strand of hair from her face affectionately before he kisses her one more time.

"Who are you thinking about?" he whispers against her lips.

"I'm tired of thinking," She whispers back.

"Good answer," he says with a smile. "Thinking is overrated."

He goes for another kiss, but she stops him with a finger to his lips.

"I spoke too soon," he jests.

It earns him a scowl. Blair Waldorf never really stops thinking. She just can't let it go. Insecurities die hard.

"Honestly. What about Katherine?"

"I gave her a proper kiss off."

"Well you were always good at kissing," she teases.

"I know," he replies cockily. "Let me show you just how good." He smiles at her devilishly.

"Did you really just walk out on her?"

"You would have been proud. It was very dramatic," he beams at her. "Now enough talking."

But Blair doesn't let things go so easily. She stops him with a hand on his chest and he tries to suppress a growl.

He's impatient, eager to start their relationship, but she's not quite ready. She wants to give in, but the more cautious side of her, the side that got burned once already won't let her take the leap.

"But where would we go? Where would we live?"

She always had so many plans for the future and she's stubborn about them. A person doesn't change overnight. Not even for Damon Salvatore.

"I mean I have school and my family! I had all these plans with Nate-"

He clenches his jaw at the sound of Archibald's name. His name doesn't belong on her lips.

"You want a house? I can give you a house. School? I can put you in any college you want. Family? I can be you family! I will take care of you. You'll want for nothing," he promises.

He has money to spare and persuasive charm to boot. Anything Nate can offer, he can match. Hell, he could double it.

"And what about when I start to age? I'm not a vampire. I can't… We can't."

"We can. We can figure it all out. Love conquers all doesn't it?"

"That's naïve thinking."

"I'm willing to risk it if you are."

"Is this for real? Or am I rebound girl?"

"Blair Waldorf? A rebound girl? Perish the thought."

"Are you really serious?"

She's so use to teasing and joking with him that sometimes she can't tell when he's being serious or not.

He takes her hands into his, brings it towards his chest where his heart should lie. She could almost pretend she feels it beating in there. Make herself believe that falling in love with a vampire wasn't such an impossible task.

"What can I say to convince you that I'm serious? Tell you I love you? Because I can say it a thousand times. Tell you I've missed you? Because I miss you even when you're standing right in front of me. Tell you that I'd die without you? Because if you walk away now I will take off this ring and burn because dying would be better than watching you walk away again."

He makes a motion to take off his ring before her hands stop him.

"No need for theatrics, Salvatore. I believe you just fine," she says smiling.

The bottom line is that no matter what happens, he's the one she wants and she's a fool if she lets him go. The curse of being a romantic, despite all of her realistic inclinations, her true nature comes through. Besides what's the point of all her planning, all her plotting and scheming if it's all for a life without him?

This time she's the one that leans in and kisses him. He doesn't complain.


	20. Chapter 20

"My engagement party is tomorrow."

The words feel like ice cold water being doused on him.

"So… am I going to be the other guy? You little boy toy on the side?" Damon says jokingly with a bravado he does not feel.

"Don't you like being my dirty little secret?" Blair whispers conspiratorially.

"If I'm going to be the other guy, this means it's okay if I have slumber parties with sorority girls right?"

Her kisses stop then and are replaced with an icy glare.

"I don't like to share."

"Neither do I," he counters. "If I don't get any sorority girls then you can't have your little lacrosse jock. It's only fair."

"No sorority girls," she answers grudgingly. "I'm going to tell Nate…"

He grins. "Now that's something I like to hear! And the sooner the better."

"But give me some time."

"How much time do you need? Just call him up, tell him it's over. The end!"

"I'd like to be a bit more sensitive than that."

"It should be like ripping off a bandaid. It might hurt him a lot now, but in the long run he'll be better for it."

"This party has been in the making for years! His grandfather is going to be there! I can't just…" A frown forms above her eyebrows and he sees distress chase itself across her face. "I can't just bail out now. It would humiliate him."

It's too much reluctance and hesitation on her part and he's getting knots in his stomach.

"Do you still…love him?"

He doesn't know what he'd do if she says yes, but luckily for him she doesn't.

"No. I don't," she answers confidently. "But I still care about him. Can't I still care about him?"

"Is it selfish of me to wish that you wouldn't?" He tries giving her his most charming smile.

"Yes." She was quick to reply. She smiles and her tone grows softer. "But I understand."

He sighs and runs his finger down her cheek.

"All that space you have in your heart, I want to occupy it all. I'm a greedy bastard, but I don't care. I don't want to share you with anyone."

"You don't have to share me. I love you."

No pause between the two statements. No hesitation. That last phrase comes out of her mouth so naturally she didn't even think about it. He can't stop the grin from spreading across his face. It's such a boyish look on him that she finds herself smiling as well.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Can you repeat it again?"

The grin on his face grows smug and she rolls her eyes, but they're both still smiling at one another and she doesn't mind.

"I… like you."

"Just like? That wasn't the word you used before."

"I thought you didn't hear me properly the first time, how would you know what word I used?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a stronger word than 'like'."

"Really? Silly me… I completely forgot what I had said!"

"Did you now? Hm… now what can we do about that?"

"I don't know… maybe…" she bends over, puts her lips close to his ears and whispers, "you can help me remember."

She lets out a shriek which turns to a giggle when he hoists her up into the air and seats her down on top of the bar.

"Let's get to it then."

The smile he has on now is absolutely roguish and she loves it. She doesn't hesitate to wrap her legs around his waist, pulls him in before he even has a chance to lean in to kiss her. He presses his lips against the bare skin at the nape of her neck. It's a bit cold and she shivers from his touch.

"So tell me…" he moves his ministrations lower and she closes her eyes and tilts her head back. "Do you remember now?"

"Hmm… still a bit fuzzy."

He pauses from leaving butterfly kisses trailing down her arm to lean back and take in her smugness and laughs.

His fingers trail up her leg, his finger finding where her thigh-high socks end and smooth silky skin begins. "Well… I better try harder to remind you then, shouldn't I?"

He lowers his head and replaces his fingers with his lips and she fails to smother the gasp that escapes her lips. She can feel him smiling against her skin.

"Remember yet?"

"I…" her voice trails off as he continues venturing further north.

"You?"

He lifts his head up and the groan she lets out in frustration doesn't escape his notice.

"I…"

"Yes?" he presses. She knows she won't get what she wants unless he gets what he wants.

"I said I love you. Are you happy now? You sadistic, cocky, pain in the-"

"Just the beginning would have sufficed." He places a quick peck on her lips to stop her from pouting. "But I'll take it."

They kiss again and again and again. The sky outside is already starting to brighten up. She doesn't get home until six am in the morning.

xxx

It's ridiculous how happy he is. He's walking through the hotel lobby and he just can't stop grinning. The receptionist at the front desk is trying to flirt with him and he vaguely recalls saying something back, but for the life of him he doesn't remember what. Blair's three letter words continue to play on loop through his head. He takes the key card she hands over to him, but ignores her attempt to bat her eyelashes at him. He just reenacts how he found out that Blair Waldorf is ticklish in his head and continues on his way.

The moment he steps out of the elevator everything changes.

His happy thoughts dissipate, the smile wiped off his face. He can feel her presence on the other side of his hotel door even before he slides his plastic hotel key card through the slot and turn the door handle.

"Welcome back, sweatheart."

Katherine smiles up at him from her position lounging on the plush white loveseat, her feet propped up on what seems to be the sturdy shoulders of a half naked bellboy, leisurely dining on grapes. The fruit doesn't fool Damon. The bite marks on her newly acquired footstool doesn't escape his notice.

"I was just enjoying some room service. Would you care for some?" Of course she's motioning towards the shirtless bellboy even as she plops a large grape into her mouth.

He smiles back at her sweetly and says, "No."

"You're starting to sound like your brother," she states, annoyance and irritation pervading her tone. She swings her feet over and stands up, brushing the wrinkles out of her dress.

Damon turns to her abandoned footstool and pulls the guy up to his feet with one hand. "Go clean up and bandage your neck, put on a shirt and go home. Tell your boss you got a family emergency."

Katherine watches his exchange with a disgusted look on her face.

"Now you not only sound like Stefan, you are him."

"What do you want, Katherine?"

Why is she here? Better question, why isn't Stefan watching her? Something felt enormously wrong. Not that there's ever anything right when Katherine's concerned.

"Maybe I just missed you," she says sweetly.

"Come now, Katherine. We both know you can lie better than that."

She laughs, the sounds of her voice piercing like shards of glass.

"How was Blair by the way?" Katherine asks menacingly. "I can smell her on you. Chanel no.5… how quaint."

"It's none of your business," he bites out.

She snorts derisively and makes a move over to where he is. "Come now, Damon. Hasn't the novelty worn off yet?"

"I love her."

It's such a simple statement, but it changes everything. It gets Katherine angry.

Katherine goes looking for Damon not because she suddenly realized that she loves him and only him, but because he loved her and she thrives on that sort of devotion. He had always been there to make her feel wanted, special and she needs that feeling. She needs the devotion. Without it she's just another blood thirsty monster. It might be a selfish reason to want him back, but Katherine has never been a very selfless person to begin with.

Katherine snorts in derision. "If you're going to get a substitute, at least get a better one. I guess since Stefan already scored Elena, you had to deal be the next best thing."

"Blair's not a substitute. She's not like you. She's not a monster."

"If I'm a monster then what does that make you? Give it up already, Damon."

"I won't. I love her."

The words stab at Katherine.

"I know 'love' is a difficult concept for you to grasp, but it's real. I love Blair. And nothing you do can change that."

"Don't you get it? She doesn't want you! She picked Nate!"

Damon continues with his calm demeanor, carefully taking off his jacket and folding it over the arm of a chair, despite Katherine's little tantrum.

"You compelled Nate."

"She doesn't know that," Katherine points out snidely. "And judging from what I'm reading from this Gossip Girl person, Blair either doesn't know or doesn't care. Her engagement party starts at seven doesn't it?"

"She's breaking it off."

"So what? Now you guys can go gallivanting off into the sunset and live happily ever after?"

"Well, not so much 'gallivanting' per say. I was thinking our time together would be better spent inside behind closed doors… but yes. Happily ever after sounds pretty good," he answers cheekily.

"But what about me?" she nearly shrieks.

"You were doing just fine the last time I checked," he bites out. "That bellboy being a prime example." It comes out harsher than he expected.

Katherine does the unexpected and smiles a smile like she's won, like she's figuring it all out. She walks over to him, places one hand on his chest, the other caressing his face.

"Are you jealous?" she says with a smirk. "I kind of like it when you're jealous."

Honestly he doesn't care if Katherine whores around with bellboys or any other member of the hotel staff, because she's Katherine and that's just what she does. You can't change a leopard's spots and he's done of trying.

He takes her hands in his and replaces them at her sides. "It's over, Katherine."

Her smile quickly turns into a scowl, but he doesn't care.

"You're going to regret this," she threatens. "You're going to be sorry for choosing her over me. I promise you."

"No. What I regret is spending over a century acting like your stupid lovesick puppy. Now get out of my hotel room."

"Fine," she hisses. "I'll leave."

She saunters her way to the door and opens it. Just before she slips through the opening, she turns to him one last time.

"Oh. I almost forgot," she makes a show of slapping her forehead. "Silly me."

She reaches out into her pocket and draws out Stefan's signet ring.

The one that lets him walk around in daylight without burning in the sun.

"What did you do to Stefan?" Damon snarls. "If you lay a hand on my brothe-"

"I told you that you'd be sorry for picking her didn't I? Did you really think I wouldn't keep my word? You should know by now that I don't use empty threats."

"You bitch!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the sunrises around… 6:30 right?" She toys with the ring before slipping in onto her finger.

"It's already 6:25…Better hope you get to Stefan quickly, before there's nothing left. The meadows besides Founder's creek don't provide such great coverage from sunlight."

He doesn't waste any time listening to her gloating and pushes past her to get to the door.

"If you don't hurry you might just become an only child!" she calls out after him. Her laughter follows him through the corridor.

xxx

Damon doesn't waste any time rushing back to Mystic Falls. He's nearly half way there when his phone starts ringing. The screen flashes Elena's name across the screen and he picks up midway through the second ring.

"Damon! We have a huge problem!"

"Have you found him?"

Damon feels like he's choking for air even though he doesn't need to breathe. His undead heart beating at a million miles per minute. It was all his fault. He's the one who wanted to free Katherine. Stefan told him it was a bad idea. He told him that it was a mistake and that he would regret it. He should've listened. Now his brother was going to pay for his mistake.

"What? Who?"

"Stefan! Did you find him? Is he okay? It's already been nearly half an hour. He couldn't have lasted that long. This is all my fault! I should've-"

"Wait, wait! Slow down! Stefan's fine."

"What?"

"Stefan's right here besides me. He's fine, but his ring is missing and so is Katherine. That's what we were trying to call you about."

He hears some shifting about in the background and then Stefan's voice comes on.

"Damon. It's me. I'm alright."

Relief comes rushing through him.

"I thought… I thought you were going to die. Katherine came to find me. With your ring on her finger. Said she left you for dead. Tied up somewhere near Founder's Creek. Was going to let the sunrise finish you off."

"I'm alright. It is okay, Damon. I'm okay," Stefan soothes.

"I thought you were going to die! What the hell were you doing letting her steal your ring?"

"She drugged me."

"Haven't you learned to check your drink by now?" Damon berates.

"I thought you were worried about me just a minute ago."

"Well since you're not dead, then you're just an idiot who got drugged by his crazy ex-girlfriend."

"Our crazy ex-girlfriend," Stefan corrects. "And let's not forget who she has it out for right now."

"Guys! You're missing the point! Why would Katherine lie about Stefan?" It was Elena's voice that said this.

"Because Katherine is a psychotic bitch. I told her it's over and now she's going ballistic."

Never before has Damon ever wanted to rip somebody limb from limb as much as he did now.

"But if she was going to hurt Stefan to get to you… and Stefan's okay… then why?"

"To distract him. It was all a distraction." It was Stefan this time.

"From what?" Elena asks.

It doesn't take Damon long to figure it out.

xxx

Inside her room Blair is sitting at her vanity table, her phone in hand.

I need to see you. Can you come over? – B

She finishes typing her message to Nate, sighs and brushes her hair back from her face with one hand. What Nate did with Serena was unthinkable, but since he came to find her in Mystic Falls he's done everything he possibly could to make it up to her. He was the model of an attentive, doting boyfriend. Everything she ever wanted him to be. He's trying so hard and like she's told Damon, she might not be in love with Nate anymore, but she still cares about him. Before things go further between Damon and herself she needs to tell Nate and soon.

She hears creaking from the door behind her and she turns around expecting it to be Dorota with her breakfast but it isn't.

"Hello, Blair."

Blair moves to grab her phone to call Damon, but suddenly Katherine's in front of her. She yanks the phone of Blair's grasp and tosses it behind her where it clatters to the floor.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"That darling maid of yours down stairs invited me in… right before I snapped her neck," Katherine says leisurely with a cruel smile.

Blair's heart drops to the bottom of her stomach. Katherine killed Dorota. Dorota, the only person who has ever been like a parent to her, was dead. She was murdered. In cold blood by this emotionless, psychotic monster in human clothing. She bites her inner cheek to keep her eyes from tearing.

"It's a wonderful staff you got here... she was oh so sweet and adorable with that little polish accent of hers. Not very competent though, letting just anybody in. Can be dangerous you know?"

"Sorry, it's the best we could do since we abolished slavery. Emily says 'go to hell' by the way. Bonnie had a few four lettered words to share as well." Blair struggles to stay calm. Breaking down now would be doing what Katherine wants and she's not about to give her the satisfaction.

"You think you're so clever."

"I don't think it," Blair quips cheekily.

Katherine leisurely strokes the edge of Blair's vanity table as if she had all the time in the world. Of course since she is immortal she really does have all the time in the world.

"You must think he actually care about you, Damon that is. But the truth of the matter is that you were just a substitute for me. Damon always did have a thing for brunettes."

Blair rolls her eyes at Katherine's attempts to provoke her.

"You know what your problem is, Katherine? You're a spoiled, greedy bitch. Damon was in love with you. But that wasn't enough. You wanted Stefan, too. And now you've lost both of them. Deal with it."

"Watch your mouth, mortal!" Katherine screams, her fangs fully bared. "You little slut. What's so great about you? He came for me! He was only using you to get to me!"

"Katherine, please spare me your hysterics. What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"I'm here to kill you."

Behind Katherine where it had slid under the dresser Blair's phone vibrates. Nate's reply flashes across the broken screen unnoticed.

I'll b over in 5. – N

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the very belated update! Been busy with school and life, but I've been loving the new seasons of both Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries! Also been checking out some awesome Damon/Blair youtube videos! They're very motivational to my writing. =D I'm so glad more and more people are loving this crossover pairing! So I finally sat myself down and finished this chapter. Already working on editing the next one so hopefully I can get that out soon as well. Hope you guys enjoy this! I love all of your support!


	21. Chapter 21

Blair swallows and forces a cocky smile out of herself despite how unsettling Katherine's menacing leer is.

"Kill me? And how would you accomplish that? Have you forgotten what happened the last time you tried to bite me?"

The memory of Blair Waldorf's blood makes her cringe. She'd take vervain any day over the stupid little Immune's blood. Vervain didn't leave her fangs numb and aching, causing her unable to properly eat for days after. She had to drink stale hospital blood that Damon got for her from cups and straws as if she were a child. It was humiliating. Imagine…a vampire that couldn't hunt and eat. It was as if she was a cripple. She might as well been a human and that's the worst thought she ever had.

"I might not be able to glamour you… or bite you…" Katherine states as she leisurely circles Blair. "But you forget… you're still quite vulnerable to ordinary physical violence."

Without another word Katherine violently pushes Blair through her bedroom door. Blair crashes into the stairway with a loud bone cracking smack. The force is enough to breaks several parts of the railing and probably a rib or two.

Blair's head hurts more than she could have ever imagined possible. Though bloody, teary eyes she could make out the figure of Katherine making her way towards her. Katherine crouches down to Blair's level and almost endearingly brushes the matted bloody hair out of her face.

"Why couldn't you just marry Nate? I went to so much trouble to compel him to propose to you like you wanted, but that just wasn't good enough for you was it?"

"Y-You compelled Nate?"

"You should thank me. I made him the perfect boyfriend. He should've been everything you ever wanted."

Nate's sudden doting behavior starts to make sense.

"But still, you just had to have Damon. And you called me greedy." Katherine's sweet tone turns into a growl. "You need to learn your place. I tried playing nice, but I've realized that if I really wanted to get rid of you I better make sure it's permanent."

"You bitch! You messed with my life!"

"As if you made mine a piece of cake," Katherine scoffs. "Besides, if I don't kill you, somebody else will. You're an Immune." She says it in a sing-song voice, but the cruel smile she has on diminishes any soothing effect. "Don't you know why you're the only Immune? It's because the rest of them have been hunted and killed ages ago. Immunes are a threat to the rest of the supernaturals. And the way we supes like to deal with threats is by ripping it. Limb. By. Limb. Staying with Damon… it would've been only a matter of time before others learn about you. But I've gone on too long. This visit has been great, but I think it's time to say good bye, princess."

"Go to hell," Blair spits out. She grabs the jagged piece of broken railing besides her and ignoring the splinters jabs it into Katherine's blurry figure as hard as she possibly could.

The vampire reels back in pain and Blair takes that moment to try and run to the door. Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she doesn't feel anything other than the need to run and fast.

Unfortunately Blair's aim was off and Katherine quickly dispenses of the jagged wooden spike from her shoulder. She speeds over to block Blair's way just as her fingertips touches the front door's ornamental doorknob. With a shove, Katherine sends Blair violently tumbling back several feet across the marble flooring. Katherine doesn't take time to leisurely taunt her victim anymore and quickly moves to eliminate the threat once and for all.

Katherine has Blair by throat pined up against the wall.

"Do you know what the one good thing about Immunes is? When they die, they stay dead. Your immunity means that the effects of our blood can't heal you or turn you. It's better this way really… you and Damon had no chance anyways. He's immortal and you have an expiration date. One way or another you're going to die. I'm just going to expedite the process."

Blair spits bloody saliva on her face which earns her a hard backhanded slap.

"I'm going relish tearing you apart!" Katherine snarls.

"Bite me," Blair retorts with a snarl.

Just as Katherine takes a firm grip of Blair's broken prone body, ready to fling the other female down various stories, Damon bursts into the room.

"Katherine! Put her down."

"She's a stupid human and she's served her purpose. She's not even a decent snack!" Katherine answers with a hiss.

"Let. Her. Go."

Katherine scoffs. "Or you'll what?"

Damon launches at her to which she drops Blair to fall to the floor coughing bloody breath. Blair struggles to get up and instantly pain shoots in her chest. Definitely a broken rib or two. Damon manages to tackle Katherine into an antique hutch. The expensive china inside comes crashing to the ground as the two vampires go at it. Unfortunately for Damon, Katherine has at least four hundred years on him and has the upper hand.

"You're mine, Damon! Mine! Don't you ever forget that!" Katherine snarls right before she shoves Damon through heavy oak wall separating the front foyer from the dining room. With a vicious smile she tosses her hair over her shoulder and struts slowly back to where Blair is trying to frantically trying to break off another piece of railing to act as a stake. She manages to free a piece when Katherine super speeds in front of her and slaps the makeshift weapon away.

"Now, now. There's no need for that."

Katherine grips Blair's throat tight and raises her body up off the floor. Blair kicks and claws at the undead vampire's hands, but supernatural strength and the earth's physical laws are unfortunately not something she is immune to.

She's poised to throw Blair down to the hard cold marble floor below, but Katherine's victory smile turns bloody as a wooden stake, the same one that Blair had lodged in her shoulder earlier, is driven through her chest. Two times a charm.

Katherine's eyes are wide as she releases Blair from her grasp to fall against the banister once more and turns to look at Damon who'd thrown the stake from across the room and straight through her heart.

"D…Damon…" she rasps, falling to her knees.

Damon walks over to her and crouches in front of her.

"I don't belong to anybody, bitch," he states, driving the stake in deeper.

With a last gasp Katherine crumples to the ground.

xxx

She's able to walk out of fiery infernos with a scratch. Get bitten by a vampire and have the vampire recoil in pain. She even managed to stake said vampire, even if the wound wasn't fatal. Blair Waldorf has come through so many times despite the odds, so it's completely ludicrous that this was the way he was going to lose her.

"Blair! Blair! Come on!"

Apparently the throw against the banister had done more than crack few ribs. He could feel a huge knot forming at the back of her head, could hear the blood pooling in her lungs. She gurgles and chokes on her own blood. The floor is flood with it, staining the expensive tiles red. Usually it's a sight that would set any vampire on edge with bloodlust, but all he feels is panic as he watches the love of his life bleeding out.

"Blair! Blair! Come on! Stay with me here!"

"D-Damon…I…I'm afraid."

"Don't be. You're Blair Waldorf! You're not afraid of anything. I won't let anything happen to you," he promises with a smile that's way too forced.

"I-I'm not afraid for myself," she manages out in between gasps for breath. "I'm afraid for you."

"Don't be stupid."

"Don't be so angry and bitter."

"Hush. You're distracting me."

She never did ever listen to him. Blair Waldorf, right till the end, always did whatever she wanted.

"Promise me that you'll be happy?"

He's desperate and has no time for idle contemplations while she lies bleeding her life away on the floor.

"I'll be happy if you'll stop talking and let me save you."

He rips open his own wrist and once his own blood is flowing he presses it against her mouth. His blood and hers mingle together. She chokes on it, unable to swallow.

"Come on! Just swallow, Blair."

She shakes her head.

"I'm an Immune, Damon. Just stop. It won't work."

"I'm just trying to save you!"

"I-I'm going to d-die. I can't be with you forever. J-just-"she's interrupted by wracking bloody coughs. "I love you. I love you."

She says I love you as if it means goodbye.

"You have to let me go, Damon."

"The day you die is the day I walk out into the sunlight without my ring on. I told you that and I'm a man of my word so do us both a favor and don't die on me."

She wants to protest, but her eyelids are getting heavier and heavier, coaxing them to a close. Soon her eyes flutter shut and Damon falls into despair.

"Don't you dare die on me! Don't you dare die on me!"

She never ever did do what he told her to do. The cut he made on his wrist heals over, but he just makes a new one. Again and again every single time. Somewhere in his head he must know that as Blair's lifeblood was bleeding away onto the ground, his was too, but it didn't matter. Nothing did.

It's all be just a fluke of nature. He never should have met her. Never should have went to that party, never should have noticed the pretty girl in the white dress, never should have sat at that bar, never should have followed her, asked her to walk him home. Never should have fallen out of love with Katherine. Oh yeah and what else? Never should have fallen in love with Blair Waldorf. Because if anything, this was all his fault. He should've known better. Monsters don't get happy endings.

This is how Nate finds them. Damon kneeling in a pool of Blair's blood cradling her head against his chest. He still has his bleeding wrist held against her lips in the case that love could defy biology.

xxx

If it had been anybody else, they would've known better after receiving such an ominous text from Blair Waldrof that something was not right. Blair's text, after all, had the ominous foreboding ring of the cliché "We have to talk" breakup tone to it. Alas, Nate remained oblivious and merely attributed Blair's request for his presence as something to do with their upcoming engagement party later that evening. Possibly to berate him on his choice of tuxedo and/or current hairstyle or the like. So he texts her back, rather exasperatedly but in good humor, that he was coming.

Of course in the typical Nate fashion, he runs into Chuck on the way and is convinced of having a smoke (or two).

"Can we just have five minutes of you being your own man instead of Blair's whipping boy?" Chuck jibes good naturedly.

His five minutes quickly turn into fifteen and then ten more when Chuck mentions that since he's so late already he should go looking for an apology gift to appease Blair's predictable bad mood.

"She likes peonies," Chuck supplied.

In retrospect, Nate realizes that his usual flakiness probably saved his life and probably cost Blair hers. He looks up from where he'd been staring at the floor to the light above the surgery room. It feels like it has been hours since Blair's been in there. His mind flashes back to how he found her and Damon Salvatore crouched on the floor in a pool of blood. Her blood. God it was just so much blood. She's so tiny, he didn't even know she could have so much.

"Oh my god! Blair! Blair!"

Nate rushed to Blair's side, climbing the stairs two at a time and ignoring the fact that the bloodstains on his expensive Marc Jacob cashmere sweater won't wash off.

"What happened? Oh my god!"

"She's hurt. Damn it! The blood isn't working. We need to get her to the hospital. Fast!"

"But- Oh my god. She's bleeding so much. How can she be bleeding so much?" Nate's gaze lands on the Katherine's dead body, sprawled about two yards away. "Is that Elena? Is she dead? What the hell happened?"

Nate sits there freaking out and every moment he sits there like an idiot is a moment lost when Blair could be saved. Damon grabs Nate by the collar and slams him into the wall.

"I know it must be tough for your puny little brain to comprehend the simplest tasks, but right now I need you to man up and help me get Blair to the hospital. Do you understand?"

"Y-yeah."

Nate quickly gets a car and Damon carries Blair to it and lays her down in the backseat.

"Get her to the hospital quickly. She's losing a lot of blood. I tried to stop it, but I think she nicked an artery."

"What do I tell them?"

"That she was in a car accident. A hit-and-run. That should explain the injuries." Damon shuts the door and backs away.

"Wait, aren't you coming?"

"I need to do something. Go. Now! She needs you."

Nate has a lot of questions, but he knows better now that time is of the essence so he nods and gets into the car. Damon watches as the love of his life drive away.

Nate recalls watching Damon from the car's rearview mirror as they drove away. He never saw anyone look so exhausted and devastated. And then one moment he's there and the next he's gone. When he finally got Blair to the hospital they rushed her away to surgery. Everything is just so messed up. He rubs his face with his hands and just wishes Blair would wake up, be her normal adorably condescending self and make some sort of snide comment on his unkempt hair and wrinkled shirt. He wishes none of this happened. He wishes that he could forget it all and just be a guy about to be engaged to his girlfriend of seventeen plus years. It should have been a happy day.

Suddenly Damon appears next to him, with Bonnie in tow.

"How is she?"

"Where did you come from?"

"How is she?" Damon repeats, this time more sternly.

"Damon, calm down. He's as worried about her as you are," Bonnie chides. "How is she?" she asks softly to Nate.

"I don't know… she's been in there forever."

"Can't you do something to help her?" Damon begs Bonnie. "There's got to be something in their grimoire of yours."

"I don't know. I'm not powerful enough to heal such a massive injury. And even if I did, she's an Immune."

"What do you mean she's immune?" Nate injects.

Bonnie's eyes dart over to the blonde and then back to Damon.

"Excuse us for a moment," Bonnie addresses Nate before dragging Damon away. Once they are out of earshot she glared him down. "You're playing awfully quick and loose with how much you're talking about our… special condition with a human in the room."

"I'll compel blondie later! Bonnie, please. I just need to save Blair. Do something. I don't want to lose her."

She recalls his desperation when he showed up at her door and dragged her into his car speeding back to New York. "Blair's dying and I need your help." That was all he said. She didn't need to hear any more.

"I can't use my magic on her… but maybe I can on the doctors. Make them more alert, precise. Help them along with the surgery. It's not a guarantee… but at least it gives her a better fighting chance."

"Do it."

Bonnie nods. "I'll do everything I can. But… just know that it might not work. You have to be prepared, Damon, in case she doesn't make it."

"If she doesn't make it. Nothing will matter anymore. If Blair dies, then I'm going to die with her."

"She wouldn't want you to do that."

"It was my fault, Bonnie. I did this to her. She was fine before she met me. I brought her into this and now she's dying because of me."

Bonnie could stand there and keep on arguing with him, but she knows that Damon's made his decision already and nothing was going to change that. So she just nods in defeat and gets to work. She pours every ounce of power she has into saving Blair and when she's done and spent and there's nothing left to do she crosses her fingers and prays for the two lives that are hanging in the balance.

xxx

Finally the doctor comes out and they all start to sigh in relief, but stops short when they see the expression on the doctor's face.

"I'm sorry."

"No. No. Don't say that to me!" Damon cries out.

"We did the best we could."

"Well maybe your best wasn't good enough!" Damon lashes out and kicks a trash can which crashes violently against the wall.

The surgeon, a fancy award-winning hotshot, shakes his head and Bonnie has to restrain Damon from tearing his head off.

"I'm sorry. She was just bleeding too much. We managed to stop it, but there were some complications."

Nate falls back into a plastic hospital chair. "I can't believe this."

"It's not likely that she is going to make it through the night."


	22. Chapter 22

She blinks several times, but her vision is slow to clear. Everything is pulsating and the colors are so vivid that they hurt her head. She manages to get her eyes focused enough to see a blurry figure approach her bed.

"My… head…" she manages to croak out. She reaches a tentative hand to her forehead and instantly pain stabs her. Her whole body is hurting actually. The whirs and beeps of the machines around her seem magnified and they exacerbate her vertigo as she tries to sit up.

"Hey, hey! Careful there. Wouldn't want to tear the stitches. Just settle down, I'll go get you some water."

The blurry figure gets up and momentarily escapes her field of focus before coming back, gentling pushing a cold glass of water into her hands. She blinks several times before she can actually see her face, but she'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Serena?"

"Hi, B." Serena offers her a weak smile that doesn't match her watery eyes. "You're awake."

"Where am I?" she asks groggily.

"At the hospital," she replies. "You got a nasty gash there and so they had to stitch you up. Nate's outside with your parents talking to the doctor and Chuck's on a coffee run."

She raises her hand to touch her forehead and follows several tubes connecting from various body parts to machines and overhanging miscellaneous mechanisms. Her fingers travel to a particularly painful and sensitive place right down the length of her chest. From what she could tell it looks as if it was from surgery and a rather serious one at that.

"Just a nasty gash?" She quirks one eyebrow in Serena's direction and smiles weakly.

Serena just looks back at her with watery eyes unable to answer.

"What… happened?" she inquires cautiously. She becomes preoccupied with thoughts of what would have happened if the police had found Katherine's body with her. How did she get here? What had happened to Damon? Where is he? A million questions buzzes about her muddle brain adding to her growing migraine.

Serena wipes away her tears and musters up enough composure to answer this time. "A hit-and-run. That's what Nate said. He was heading to your place and he saw you crossing the street when the car came out of nowhere. Do you remember anything?"

Blair knows it best to lie. It's a good thing she does it well. "No. It's all just blurriness."

"Well, don't dwell on it too much. You're going to need your strength."

Just then she hears the sound of the doorknob turn and instantly she's alert and struggling to sit up, massive headache and stitches be damned. Unfortunately, the head that peaks through the crack is blonde, not black.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Nate inquires. "You look pale. I'll get a nurse come and check on you. Where's Chuck? He went out to get some food and coffee fifteen minutes ago." He's almost out the door again, but Blair stops him.

"It's okay. I'm a little sore, but I'll survive."

"You're a Waldorf," Serena interjects. "You can survive anything."

"Exactly." Blair tries smiling at him, but Nate looks distracted.

"You know what? I'll go check on Chuck and give you guys a minute," Serena excuses herself.

"Hey, Serena. Wait," Blair calls out after her.

Serena pauses at the threshold, one hand on the door.

"Thanks… for coming. I know you went back to boarding school. It must have been tough to get back here so quickly."

"Are you kidding me, B? I'd fly across the world and back for you. Just please promise me that you won't get hurt again."

Serena looks like she's teetering on the verge of crying again so Blair tries to smile and ward it off.

"The next time I get a paper cut you'll be the first person I text."

It doesn't quite work. Serena's dashing to her side the next moment, hugging her as gently as she could and wetting her shoulder with salty tears.

"Shh… shhhh," Blair soothes as she runs her fingers through Serena's hair. "I'm okay now. Just look at me, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine at all. You're at the hospital. We could've lost you. I wouldn't know what to do without you," Serena hiccups.

"Well you wouldn't be going around wearing that hideous grey sweater, that's for sure. Is… is that what they call a hoodie?" Blair jokes, wrinkling her nose.

That manages to get the blonde to crack a smile. "I borrowed it from Nate. I was in such a hurry to get here I didn't pack anything. It was a last resort."

"Glad to see that you all have your humor back," Nate injects. "Although I don't appreciate the insult to my sweater."

The girls laugh and they all share a genuine smile, the kind that best friends share. Her near death experience was probably the best thing that happened to fixed their broken friendship. All the awkwardness is gone, all the hurt and betrayal forgiven because in the end she knew that Serena and Nate would always be there for her.

With a last hug and a kiss on the cheek, Serena leaves them in a tornado of glossy blonde hair, the click of the door signaling her departure.

"You almost died you know?" Nate supplies after Serena's left the room.

"What… what happened to me?"

"A lot of bleeding and internal bruising. The doctor said it was severe myocardial contusion. You had surgery, but there were complications. Your heart... it was failing." Nate pauses for a moment before continuing. "You needed a transplant."

Blair swallows nervously, as bad as everything Nate has described she felt like he was still waiting to tell her the worst part.

"Needed?"

Nate sighs and averts his eyes, shifting them down to his leather Italian shoes.

"You were lucky. There was a match."

She doesn't feel convinced. She's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing. You were very lucky. I'm just happy you're going to be okay."

Nate tries smiling, but it's anything but believable.

"Then why do you look like you're about to throw up?" she accuses.

Nate gets up and paces about the room, running a hand through his hair mussing it even more than before.

"This is really hard."

"Just tell me," Blair coaxes. "Was there something wrong with the heart?"

Nate doesn't say anything.

"Whose heart was it?"

Silence once again answers her question.

"Nate," she warns. "What's going on? You're making me nervous. Who was the donor?"

Nate stops his pace, looks her straight in the eye and changed her world forever with his next two words.

"Damon Salvatore," he answers as he hands over Damon's lapis lazuli ring to her.

xxx

Chuck and Serena make their belated appearance with Stefan and Elena following close behind. It's the first time they are all in the same room.

"How is she?" Serena asks Nate.

"Not good…"

"What's the diagnosis?"Chuck looks disheveled and not at all his usual dandy self.

Just as the question leaves young Bass's lips the doctor comes bursting through the doors once more.

"She needs a new heart."

"Blair needs a new heart," Nate repeats.

"Yeah, we all hear the doctor, Sherlock," Damon chides.

The doctor goes about on a long-winded explanation about myocardial contusions and heart failure. In the end the bottomline is that without a new heart Blair is going to die and that was unacceptable.

"Oh my god," Serena gasps, unable to hold back the tears.

"Well then what's the problem? Let's pull some strings and get her a new fucking heart!" Chuck is already on his phone trying to fix everything with his Bass trust fund.

"It's not that easy… There's lists and the heart has to match and-"the doctor tries to rationalize.

"She's going to die and you're standing her talking about lists?" Damon lashes out.

"We know, Damon. Just calm down," Stefan soothes.

"No! I will not calm down. Blair needs a new heart and I'm going to get her one."

Damon walks out on them, but Stefan goes after him.

"Hey! Hey!" Stefan reaches for his arm, but Damon shrugs it off violently.

"What?"

"What are you going to do? Go out and rip apart people until you find her a match?"

"If that's what it takes." He's dead serious.

"You can't do that, Damon."

"Why not?"

"She would never be able to live knowing that you killed somebody innocent to save her."

"Sure she could! She'd take it as a grand romantic gesture!"

"Damon."

"Then what, Stefan? What can I do? I'm going to lose her." His voice cracks, the desperation reverberating off the hospital walls.

"I don't know, Damon. I really don't know."

"I do."

They both turn around to look at Bonnie who glances about nervously. The intensity of Damon's gaze makes her regret following them and speaking aloud when she hasn't thought things through.

"No, nevermind. It's a stupid, insane idea."

"No, tell us! Stupid and insane is exactly what we need right now."

"No, it's crazy!"

"Bonnie! If it can save her then what's stopping us?"

"Because she wouldn't want this."

"You don't know what she wants!"

"She wants you to live. She doesn't want you to sacrifice yourself for her sake. Because what I'm about to suggest is crazy! It might not even work!"

"Just tell me what to do, Bonnie. Tell me and I'll do anything. As long as she lives. It doesn't matter. What do I have to do?

"Well… you could give her your heart."

"You're right, Bonnie. That is crazy," Stefan chides. "Damon! We're vampires and we can heal, but we're not invincible! We need hearts to live. You'd die!"

"I'll do it." He doesn't even think twice.

"Well hopefully if the spells works correctly then he won't die," Bonnie says not so reassuringly.

"See? All good! You're being a worrywart, Stefan."

"She said 'if', Damon," his brother retorts. Turning to Bonnie Stefan says, "What are the chances of the spell not working."

"Spells," Bonnie correct. "There's one to make Damon's heart viable for human transplantation and then another to make so that his body goes into hyper healing so that it can hopefully grow a new heart before he dies."

"Grow a new heart?" Stefan repeats.

"The spell is kind of like steroids for the vampire healing ability. Hypothetically… by speeding up his healing power his body should be able to regenerate a new heart before he's…" Bonnie pauses to search for a better way of describing what happens if Damon doesn't heal in time other than dead since he technically already was. "Before he's really dead." She finishes lamely."It's a fifty-fifty shot."

"It's fine," Damon coaxes his brother. He turns to Bonnie and repeats his conviction despite Stefan's ongoing protests. "I'll do it."

"There's just one more thing…"

Stefan throws up his hand in the air. "What else could this idiotic plan need?"

"We need to human blood for Blair's blood transfusion to make sure the spell circulates through her body."

"We're in a hospital. I'm sure we can find a bag or two," Damon answers flippantly.

Bonnie shakes her head. "I need it to be from a live source."

"You witches and your spells. Can't make it simple, can you? Is it ever just one ingredient? No, it has to be everything under the sun and a sink to boot!"

"These spells are not exactly easy as cake, Damon." Bonnie shoots him an impatient glare. "The more ingredients there are the more organic the spell and the less power I have to waste. Therefore the more magic I'll have in case something goes wrong. Which means the less likely you are to die."

"And where do you suppose we find our willing human donor?" Stefan interrupts.

"From me."

They all whirl around to find Nate Archibald standing in the middle of the hall way, his expression defiant and a breathless Elena by his side.

"I'm sorry. I tried to stop him," Elena apologizes.

"It's okay, Elena," Stefan reassures.

"No it's not 'okay'! She's supposed to keep the humans occupied," Damon chastises.

Stefan shoots his brother a glare to which Damon merely glares back.

"Look, I don't really understand what's going on, but whatever you can do to save Blair then I'll do it," Nate declares.

"How long have you been eavesdropping?" Damon hisses.

Within seconds Damon was across the room and standing domineeringly right in front of Nate. The blonde swallows nervously, but stands his ground.

"Does it matter? I'm what you need and I'm volunteering."

"We don't need you," Damon hisses.

"You don't get to make the decisions. I'm her fiancé! I love her and I'm not going to let her die!"

Before he knows it Nate has himself pinned two feet up against the wall. He kicks his feet but only lands on air, choking and trying to claw away at the two cold hands wrapped around his neck. Stefan struggles to make Damon remove his grip, but it's like a steel trap.

"You have no right to say you love her. Your so called 'love' was fabrication. You were compelled by Katherine you insignificant little-"

"Damon! Stop you're going to kill him!" Bonnie screams.

"Tell me. What were you doing when she needed you huh? You were supposed to meet with her. You were supposed to be there. You should've been the one that's on the hospital bed!"

Nate doesn't have a chance to answer because of the pair of iron hands around his throat, not that he has an answer anyways. It's true, he should've been there and he hates himself for it.

"Don't be selfish, Damon. You're not the only one that cares about Blair," Bonnie scolds. "Let him go!"

"He doesn't deserve her!"

"It doesn't matter. He's what we need. We can save her, Damon! If you kill him then you'll lose her forever!" Bonnie reasons.

"There are other humans we can use," Damon throws back.

"But she won't forgive you if you kill him," Elena points out.

Damon smiles humorlessly. "Then I won't kill him. I'll just hurt him a little."

"Come on. We get it. You're upset. But anymore time wasted on him is time Blair doesn't have," Stefan points out.

With a snarl Damon releases his iron grip around Nate's throat. The young Archibald falls to his knees coughing and choking. Stefan kneels by his side to check the damages as Damon turns his back to them.

"I-I love her. You may say otherwise, but I love her. I feel it. I know it," Nate rasps."And I just want to save her as much as you do."

Damon turns back to look at Nate, the two locking eyes. "Well then here's your chance to prove it."

xxx

Nate shuts the door to Blair's hospital room behind him and sighs.

"What did you tell her?"

Nate turns to face Damon's anxious face.

"Everything you told me to."

Damon nods. "It's for the best."

Nate thought it was insane lying to Blair. She'd never believe him, but Damon had insisted and everyone had agreed. It was for the best. That's what he kept hearing. "It's for the best." But he isn't quite sure what the best really is anymore.

"Are you sure you should be walking around?"

"Worried about me now, Archibald? Just because I'm letting you live don't mean we're suddenly going to braid each other's hair and make friendship bracelets."

"She… she was pretty upset."

"You gave her the ring didn't you?"

"Yeah. But, I don't know if she believes it or not. I'm not a good liar."

"I know," Damon jibes.

"Hey, I did what you told me to! I did my best okay? It hasn't been easy you know?"

"I know! Alright, I know! You think I don't know how hard it has been?"

"Well… as long as you know," Nate answers lamely, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "What's with the ring though? She sort of freaked when she saw it."

"Well it's sorta the thing that keeps me for burning up in the sunlight."

"Do vampires really burn in the sun?"

"Yes, Nate. They do."

"I thought they sparkled."

"You've been reading too much Stephanie Meyer."

"Who's that? Is that Robert Pattinson's agent or something?"

"Nevermind."

"I still can't believe you're a vampire."

"I still can't believe you know."

"Why do I? Why haven't you killed me or erased my memory or something."

Damon sighs exasperatedly. "As much as I'd like to rip your pretty little blonde head off, Blair cares about you. And you seem to care about her… even with your past indiscretions."

"What happened with Serena is in the past."

"I don't need to hear your excuses. As long as Blair's your number one priority now, it's all that matters."

"Okay. So you're not going to kill me?"

"No. I guess not." Damon says it so regrettably that Nate doubts his sincerity. "She needs you to protect her."

"But isn't it over? I thought you said you killed Elena's evil twin or whatever."

"Doesn't matter. Katherine may be dead, but there will be others. There will always be others. That's how our world works. She's better off with you."

"What does that got to do with lying to Blair that you're dead?"

"Well, technically it's not a lie since I already am dead."

"You know what I mean. Why can't you protect her?"

"Because it's my fault she's in here in the first place. I tried to blame you, but I knew that in the end she got hurt because of me. I'm a risk to her. If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly Mr. Sunshine."

"You? Really? I couldn't tell."

"I have enemies. There are people who would try and use her to get to me. People who would want to kill her if they find out what she is and another million different reasons why she wouldn't be safe if she keeps hanging out with vampires. As long as I am what I am and she's mortal, her life will be in danger because of me. She's not supposed to live on the run. She belongs in the limelight, the society pages, at parties and in ball gowns. It's better if I just get out of her life."

"Don't you think that's a decision she should make herself?"

Damon scoffs. "She'd think so, but it doesn't matter. I can't let her decide this one."

He won't hold her dying in his arms again. He can't face it. He'd rather not have her at all than to face that again. He might come to resent his decision now, but its okay. He'll have an eternity to mull it over. An eternity of contemplations of a life that could have been. With a girl who could have been the love of his life, is the love of his. He's fine with just contemplating so long as she's safe and happy, even if it's not with him.

"It's for the best," he says automatically.

"You keep saying that as if you're trying to convince yourself," Nate points out in a rare demonstration of being observant.

Damon rolls his eyes as if he's seriously reconsidering letting Nate live.

"I love her. Enough to let her go."

"You're not the only one in the world that loves Blair, you know," Nate points out. "I love her, too. Maybe not as much as you do, but I love her. And I will protect her the best way I know how."

"You better."

Nate snorts. He was naïve if he thought he could get some kind of approval. What did he think they were doing? Having a man-to-man, heart-to-heart? Damon doesn't have a heart. Not anymore anyways. It's currently residing inside Blair Waldorf's chest.

"I should go tell her parents that she's awake now. I guess this is goodbye then. I'll… not see you around," Nate finishes lamely before starting to walk off.

"Hey, Nate."

Nate turns around.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Without another word, Damon Salvatore vanishes in front of his eyes.

On the other side of the hospital door, Blair is smothering her sobs with the back of the hand, her hospital issued pillow soaked through.

xxx

It's been nearly a week since the events that caused her hospitalization. Blair's recovery had been deemed a miracle by the medical authorities.

"It's as if you came back from the dead!" They announce.

Nobody had ever healed so fast. The only remnant of what happened is the pale white transplant scar down the middle of her chest. It's the only imperfection on an otherwise completely healthy, beautiful body. Serena catches her tracing it one day as a nurse checks her vitals.

"You know there's this plastic surgeon in California," Serena starts, but Blair stops her.

"I kind of… like it," she admits shyly.

It was a battle scar, a symbol of all she's been through and all she's won and lost. But most of all it reminds her everyday who she has to thank for being alive. Even if the feeling is bittersweet, even if she thought it was the stupidest thing he could have ever done, the most idiotic of grand romantic gestures. She needs it to remind her that inside her chest Damon Salvatore's heart beats on.

Despite all the enthusiasm the hospital still argued against her discharged, but she had argued back that with the comforts of the Waldorf estate she would probably be in better care at home than at a (cringe) public hospital. Still the protestations continued until Eleanor and Harold wrote them a check for a new hospital wing. They shut up after that.

She returns home expecting to see carnage. She imagines blood stained walls, shattered glass littering the marble floor, their razor sharp edges catching the light of the broken chandelier and glinting like diamonds. Instead she walks dazedly into a perfectly put together room straight out of an expensive interior design showroom catalogue.

She walks up the stairs feeling as if her knees would give out any minute. She remembers tumbling down them like a rag doll. Nate holds her hand as she looks up at the white double doors to her bedroom that Katherine had violently shoved her through. She winces when she remembers how hard her head had hit the floor when she fell, how the sickening crack had reverberated against the high ceilings and how she was so very sure that she was going to die that day.

"Are you sure you're okay? We can go back to my place if you want," Serena offers.

"I'm fine," she answers automatically even though her hands were shaking.

She doesn't look convince, but Serena obligingly pulls open the doors and ushers her friend inside.

Blair swallows. Much like the room downstairs her bedroom looks untouched by the horrific events that had occurred that resulted in her near death. It makes her want to vomit. It's as if everything that had happened to her is getting erased, as if nothing ever really happened at all.

She's shivering again even though the heater is on and the room is very warm. Suddenly she feels fingers lacing through her own and squeezing affectionately. She looks up to see Nate's sea glass blue eyes looking down at her and she feels a little better.

Meanwhile Chuck makes himself comfortable in her leather armchair.

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Some virgins to deflower in the back of your limo or something?" she tries glibly.

"Nope," he answers cheekily. "Today, I'm all yours, Waldorf. Now before you get all excited, remember the doctor said you are supposed to avoid strenuous activity," he adds with a wink.

He props his legs on her nightstand and smirks at her when she glares at him as if challenging her to try and kick him out because he has assumed his battle stance and he's not going anywhere so she can just stay put and make it easy on the both of them. She settles with throwing a pillow at him which he catches and uses it to prop his head.

Nate sits her down on her bed and wraps the 100% cashmere throw over her shoulders. She closes her eyes and falls asleep to the beating of her new heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have about two chapters left before the conclusion. Hopefully it'll be a satisfying one. But don't worry I have an idea for another Damon/Blair story for all of you who crave some more crossover. =D As always I owe you guys so much thanks for all the support and feedback. This story wouldn't happen without all you readers! =)


	23. Chapter 23

Nate offers her tea as they sit in the Archibald's drawing room making idle chitchat. It's not the usual earl grey or chamomile, he tells her. It's some sort of new exotic herbal type his mother had discovered from a rare specialties merchant in Bulgaria. It's supposed to have healing properties and grant you protection. At least that's what the guy told his mom anyways. He has been forced to drink it by the gallons because she had bought it in bulk. Blair merely smiles and marvels at his ability to make mundane conversation in light of everything.

She appreciates everything Nate has done for her since she got discharged, but she still can't forget what Katherine told her while she was trying to knock her teeth out. She's not sure how long compulsions last, especially once the vampire who cast it is dead, but the doubt is there. Every time he smiles at her is a constant reminder that none of it is real. She can't tell where reality begins and the effects of Katherine's compulsion ends anymore.

She brings the cup to her lips and takes a sip. Instantly a familiar taste invades her taste buds and she slams the cup down on the table with shaky hands. The cup had hit the table hard and shatters.

"Blair! Are you okay?"

She cuts her hands on the broken pieces and he rushes to wrap her hands with his handkerchief to staunch the bleeding.

"Are you alright?" he asks worriedly.

"Fine, I'm fine," she answers distractedly.

"I'll go get Roberta to come clean this up."

He gets up to leave, but she tugs on his shirttail.

"Wait! Nate, what's this tea called?"

"What?" he asks her, confused by the urgency in her voice.

"The tea. What's it called?"

"I… I don't know. What does it matter? It's just some new fad my mother is indulging in. Supposedly it's trendy for Upper East Side housewives to drink exotic teas now."

"Nate! Come on! Recall! She must have told you," Blair presses.

Nate's eyebrows furrow together in concentration. "It's… something with a V… Ver something or other."

"Vervain?" Blair supplies.

"Yeah. That's it."

It had only taken that small sip for her to realize what it was, but she hadn't been sure.

"How long have you been drinking this?"

"I don't know… awhile. I told you, my mom bought it in bulk," Nate laughs.

"Have you… been drinking before you came to see me in Mystic Falls?"

Once again, Nate's face turns into a frown in his efforts to concentrate. "Yeah… I think so. My mom got it back in October. When I first came back after the whole… you know… thing…" Nate's voice trails off at the touchy subject of the blotched confession of his affair with Serena.

"October…" she repeats.

If he's been drinking vervain regularly since October, then by the time he met with Katherine, her compulsions shouldn't have worked on him. That means everything he's said, everything he's done since then, it was real. He wants her. He really asked her to marry him because he meant it. Not because he was manipulated. Not because he was compelled. But because he wants to. She really could have that fairytale happy ending if she wanted. Somehow it's a thought that scares her more than delights her. Her mind is racing and if she wasn't already sitting on the ground she thinks her knees would've buckled under.

Nate notices the anguished look on her face and kneels down besides her, taking her hands into his.

"Blair… I know… I know that you don't love me."

She looks up at him, her eyes wide in shock. "No. I do," she reassures him. "I care about you, Nate."

He smiles back at her sadly. "Yeah… but you don't love me like you use to. Not like the way I love you now. It took almost losing you to realize that."

Blair has nothing to say to that because it's the truth. She doesn't love Nate. Not like before. But maybe… maybe she could again.

"But you know what? I don't care. I'm going to be here for you, Blair. Like how I should've been before. I'm going to be the guy that you always wanted me to be, the guy I should've been. The one who should've known to cherish you when he had you."

Nate gets up suddenly.

"I'm going to make you fall back in love with me," he announces. "No matter what it takes."

He looks so very sure of himself.

"Nate…" she starts, but he shakes his head at her.

"No. I'm going to make you fall back in love with me. I know you still… you still miss him." It seems like it's hard for the young Archibald to say his name. Damon has been in her mind constantly lately and it seems like everyone is tiptoeing around the subject. "But he's gone now. You have to move on."

Move on. She told herself many times that she would, but it's easier said than done when everyday when she wakes up and feels her heart beating in her chest she is reminded that it's not really hers at all.

She doesn't answer him for a long time and so he just sighs. "Are your hands are still bleeding? I'll go get you a band-aid."

Blair remains on the floor staring at how her blood has tainted Nate's expensive silk handkerchief red. She wishes she wasn't so breakable.

She finally pulls herself up and goes to the bathroom to wash off her bloody hands. There's no point in moping about, staining the Archibalds' carpet. She turns on the tap and let the water run, lost in her thoughts and the implications of Nate's non-compelled behavior. Finally the water is no longer pink and she raises her hand up towards her face to examine the damage. Except there is none.

None at all.

Her skin is smooth and clean, albeit pruney from the length of time she held it under water, but abrasion free. She's quietly freaking out until loud knocking from behind her startles her from her panicked state.

"Blair? Are you okay in there?" Nate calls from the other side of the door.

"I'm f-fine!" She answers unconvincingly.

"I have the bandages," he tells her from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine. The bleeding has already stopped." Understatement of the year.

"Are you sure? You sound funny."

"I said I was fine," she snaps.

Nate's not convinced. "I'm coming in."

"Wait! No-"

The doorknob was turning and before she knew it she had ripped the door right off of its hinges in her attempt to keep it closed. Nate stands on the other side, mouth agape.

"Oh my god," she whispers as she releases her death grip on the door, letting the hulking thing go crashing to the ground.

xxx

For a moment they both avoid looking at each other, concentrating instead on the wreck of the doorway.

"A-are you a vampire now?"

She looks up at him startled.

"H-How?"

"Damon. His heart… the spells needed human blood. I wanted to save you. I… I know. I know everything."

"You know?"

"He's a vampire. Bonnie's a witch," Nate goes about rattling off all of the secrets she's be desperately trying to keep from him in a nearly hysterical manner. "We were trying to save you. I promised him not to tell you. He's going to kill me."

Nate starts pacing the length of the room, his hand running nervously through his hair.

"He's going to kill you," she repeats.

"Yes! And knowing him he's going to make it slow! I wasn't supposed to let you know! But look at you! You just pulled the door off its hinges. That wasn't supposed to happen. Damon didn't tell me that that was going to happen."

"Damon's alive," she doesn't say it like a question.

Nate stops in his tracks, realizing how he truly messed up.

"You can't go after him, B."

"You lied to me."

"To protect you!"

It's her turn to pace this time, her head spinning. Not more than ten minutes ago she just discovered that she suddenly gained super human strength and healing powers and the reason for it was because her human ex-boyfriend had teamed up with her presumably dead vampire boyfriend to lie to her all in the name of her protection.

"I can't believe this."

"Blair, it was to protect you. I'm sorry, but I had to."

"Don't even start with me!"

Why is it that Nate always sounds like a broken record on an endless loop of apologies and excuses? She ungenerously recalls of the other Archibald apologies and hates him for always making her out to be a helpless victim. Suddenly an unpleasant thought flashes and she comes to a screeching halt in her pacing, whirling violently towards Nate.

"The vervain," she bites out.

"W-what about it?"

"Did you know about it?"

"I don't know what you mean," Nate answers feebly.

"You should know by now, Nate, that you're not a very good liar."

"Blair-"

"Don't you 'Blair' me with your kicked puppy looking eyes and bambi pout!" She punctuates her venom by stabbing him in the chest with her finger. "That might work on college sorority girls and waitressing bimbos, but you have another thing coming if you think you can pull that one on me!"

Nate looks truly terrified and if she wasn't so furious she'd feel sorry for him.

"The vervain, Nate," she repeats. "Did you know about it?"

A myriad of emotions chases themselves across Nathanial's face. This was it. Whatever he says now would change everything thing between once and for all. There would be nothing to fix after this. Blair is glaring up at him and he quickly averts his eyes to the ground.

"Ye-"

Before he could even finish confirming Blair slaps him hard across the face. His left cheek stings and he can already feel the skin turning hot and red, but he doesn't dare raise a hand to touch it. Not when Blair was crumbling right in front of him.

"They told me about vervain. Gave me some to take it as a precaution."

"So that whole story about your mom and that Bulgarian dealer. Just something you came up to do what exactly? What were you trying to achieve?" Her voice is a snarl, gravely and raspy from unshed tears. She swallows and looks up towards the chandelier light hoping that it would help. She's sick of wasting tears on Nate Archibald.

"I wanted you to love me again."

"W-what?"

"I told you. No matter what it takes, I'd make you fall back in love with me."

"And that's suppose to be your excuse for trying to manipulate my feelings?" she shoots back.

"I had to. You were never going to forget about him. How was I supposed to compete with a dead guy?"

He looks down at her all melancholic and lovely and just so sincerely sorry that she could almost forgive him. Almost. She knows the effects of vervain. It grants the user immunity to compulsion, but as she recalled Nate never touched his tea.

"If you know about vervain then you know that what you're probably feeling right now isn't real. You were compelled by Katherine and Damon, pathologically insane as he is, probably re-compelled you after she died on some sort of crazy notion of protecting me or something. The feelings you have towards me, they're not real," she reasons.

"They're real, Blair."

She shakes her head. "Of course you'd think so. That's why it's compulsion," she answers calmly as if explaining something to a child.

"It's real!" He slams his fist against the wall so suddenly she jumps. "I'll prove it to you!"

He grabs the teapot of vervain and goes about draining its contents. When he finishes he tosses the expensive china to the floor with a crash.

"It's real."

His eyes are pleading her to believe him, but right now she doesn't know what to think.

"I love you."

He presses his forehead against hers, his hand caressing her cheek. She shuts her eyes and for a moment she could pretend that they were the same two fifteen year olds who fell in love in the schoolyard again.

"Please believe me."

She opens her eyes, the memories fading away, and draws back away from him.

"I…I have to go," she mumbles.

He looks heartbroken and she can't bear to look him in the eyes anymore.

"Where are you going?" he asks resignedly.

"I don't know. I just need some time to… to think. I'll be back in time for your grandfather's party tomorrow night," she answers tiredly as she pulls on her jacket.

She turns to him one last time and tries a smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes and makes a beeline for the door. The door shut behind her with a click and Nate stands alone in the silence of the grand Archibald drawing room not knowing what just happened.

xxx

Living in Mystic Falls has prepared Stefan Salvatore for many things. His century and a half life span has taught him to always expect the unexpected. That being said, when he opened his door and found Blair Waldorf on the other side of it he couldn't quite hide his surprise.

"Blair."

It's been awhile since she's last seen the younger Salvatore brother.

"Stefan. Can I come in?"

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

"I'm fine. I'm doing very well actually as you can see. Was discharged nearly a month ago. How are you?"

"I'm… fine… thanks," Stefan answers awkwardly.

"Now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, can I come in?"

"Y-yeah… sure."

Stefan steps aside and lets her in. He offers her coffee, but she declines it. She'd rather not be drinking anything right now.

"How are you doing?" he asks politely.

"Good. Thanks."

They sit in awkwardness as Blair looks about the mansion. Nothing seems to have changed. The house seems as untouched by the hands of time. She imagines it is about exactly the same as it was in the eighteen hundreds.

"What are you doing here, Blair?"

"What happened to the bodies? Katherine… she killed-" Blair pauses to swallow the lump in her throat. She still wakes up in the morning expecting her friend to come in with the morning paper and tea. Just last week she accidently called one of the new maids Dorota. "She killed a good friend of mine."

"Don't worry, Elena and I took care of it. We gave her a proper burial."

Blair nods solemnly. "Thank you."

"It was nothing."

They sit in silence for awhile after until Stefan finally speaks up.

"What are you doing here, Blair?" he asks again.

"Has Damon contacted you?"

"I don't understand."

"Damon. You know, your brother? Handsome psychopath with a penchant for leather jackets?"

"Blair… you know like I do that he's gone."

"Don't lie to me, Stefan. You and I both know that he's not. I know all about his little deception, so you don't have to cover his ass for him anymore."

"I'm not. He's gone, Blair. You just have to accept it."

"I don't believe you, but fine. You can go on with the charades, pretending he's dead."

"I'm not pretending anything," Stefan starts, but Blair cuts him off.

"We can go on all night about this, but that's not why I'm here. There's something I have to show you."

She asks for a knife and Stefan begrudgingly obliges her.

"What's this about, Blair?"

"Just watch."

She winces as she draws a long, deep cut right down the middle of her palm. Immediately Stefan is by her side snatching her hand.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Stefan decides that it wasn't Blair's heart they should've been worried about, it was her head. The trauma from Katherine's attack must have turned the poor girl mad.

"Just wait," Blair orders.

Together they watch as the skin on Blair's hand slowly knits back together until there's no longer a wound.

"It's healing faster now. It took a while longer before."

Stefan releases his iron grip and falls back into the couch behind him, stunned.

"And that's not the only thing I can do."

"H-how?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm here. What's going on with me, Stefan?"

Stefan rubs his face with his hands. "It must have been the spell."

"What spell?"

"The one that Bonnie casted on you and Damon so that he could give you his heart."

Blair swallows nervously at the mention of the D word, but brushes it aside.

"But I'm an Immune. No magic is supposed to work on me."

"Maybe because the spell is on Damon's heart, so your Immunity doesn't work since it's not technically on you."

"This is insane."

She begins pacing about the length of the room.

"No kidding."

This was just perfect. Damon is gone and now Stefan has to deal with his demanding Immune girlfriend with newly acquired vampire heart and healing abilities.

Blair abruptly turns on him, her hands and her hips and says in a commanding tone of voice, "Do something."

"W-what do you want me to do?" Stefan stammers.

"Fix it! You're a centuries old vampire, you must know something!"

She returns to pacing only to whirl on him once again a second later.

"Does this mean I'm a vampire, too, now?"

"I don't know," Stefan replies lamely.

"Well then what am I?"

"I don't know."

She sighs exasperatedly. "Really, Stefan. What do you know? I came here for answers!" she declares indignantly. "I'm kind of freaking out here and Waldorfs don't freak out! We keep calm and carry on!"

"Look, the spell was a long shot and what with your Immunity… It's kind of out of my expertise. We should go see Bonnie."

"You read my mind. She should've been who I went to see in the first place," Blair jibes.

Stefan just sighs resignedly and together they gather their coats and make their way to the young witch's house.

xxx

The night of the party is upon them and still no sign of Blair. Nate paces about the hotel lobby with his phone in his hand waiting for her call. As if she read his mind she does. He picks up on the first ring.

"Where have you been, Blair?"

"I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly the other day. There was something important I had to do."

"It's alright. Where are you?"

He doesn't know it, but she's in the room right next to his watching him as he paces about nervously, just out of sight.

She shakes her head even though she knows he can't see her. "It doesn't matter."

"Blair… About… about everything," Nate starts, but she doesn't let him finish.

"No, I get it. You guys were just trying to protect me. But it's okay, because you don't need to. I can protect myself."

"Are you going to go after him now? It's always has been him, hasn't it? You never really could have let him go."

"No, Nate. This is about me. There are… things about me that you don't know about. Things I don't know about myself. And I need to figure it all out."

"Then let me help you. I can be there for you. Whatever you need."

Blair shakes her head even though she knows Nate can't see her. "You can't. You can't get involved in this. It's not your world."

"It's not yours either!" he argues.

"But it is, Nate. It is. I always thought that I stumbled into this whole mess purely by accident. You can try and blame it on Damon if you want, but it wasn't his fault. I was a part of all this since the beginning. It was just that I didn't know it at the time. And now that I know, I can't absolve my responsibility. I need to find out what I am. It's as much for myself as well as for everyone else around me. Otherwise I would put everyone I love in danger. I would put you in danger. And I can't do that."

Silence grows between them. Nate has done the best he could, but he always knew that he wouldn't keep her.

"I… I really did love you. We were something, you and me. Back then…we were something weren't we?"

"Yeah. We were something," she agrees.

"But we're not anymore."

"No… we're not." There's a hint of regret and nostalgia in her voice.

Once again, he goes silent on the other line and she almost wishes he would scream and shout instead.

"You're not coming back are you?" His voice sounds resigned.

"It won't be forever. I'll be back someday."

"I… I wish you happiness, Blair. I realize now that you weren't going to get that with me. So wherever you are, wherever you're going… I hope you're happy. And… you don't have to worry. I'll keep your secret. Not as if anybody would believe me anyways, but I told you that I would protect you and I guess this is the best way how."

She smiles softly. "Thank you, Nate." She means what she says with all of her heart. "We can't be lovers, but we're friends aren't we?"

"Always have, always will." Despite what she thought he does pay attention occasionally. "Take care of yourself, Blair."

"You too. Goodbye, Nate."

The phone clicks and all that's left for Nate to hear is the dial tone. He stares at his silent phone for a second before turning away and returning to the party. Blair watches him shake hands with one of his grandfather's colleagues. He has the bright signature Archibald winning smile on and he seems to stand a little taller than she remembered. So very different from the distracted privileged boy she used to know. She leaves knowing that he'd do fine without her.

xxx

She's bidding farewell to the life she has known so well and looks towards her new one. She'll look back to this day and realize that this was the moment when everything changes. Just as everything she thinks she knows about herself is ending, it's the beginning of finding a whole new self. A whole new Blair to meet and discover. She's both nervous and anxious, but she welcomes the change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Epilogue pending! I'm sad this story is coming to an end, but I'm happy with it. For those of you seeking more Damon/Blair crossovers, I do have another fic planned. You can check out a teaser video I made here: www[dot]youtube[dot]com/watch?v=9D1gbOTEyQU. I'm very excited for it and hope you guys are too! =) There might also be a sequel that I have ideas for, but nothing concrete. Thank you once again for reading and all of your support!


	24. Epilogue

A vampire walks into a bar. Their reunion begins with a bad joke, much like the cards fate dealt them.

Two years has passed since that day Blair Waldorf and Damon Salvatore's timelines crossed paths. Damon should know by now that timing is everything and it is not coincidental. He should've turned and walked out the moment he saw her sitting there at the bar, her legs crossed at the ankles, her hair impeccably curled and lips just as red as he remembered. If he still breathed, his breath would have caught in his throat at the sight of her.

These last two years should have been merely microseconds compared to the rest of his lifespan, but for Damon since that last time he laid eyes on her, time has crawled along like a lame tortoise in the hot sun. Pathetic. He knows. But there it was. The dull, numbing pain that he couldn't seem to shake off by being away from her. He's thought he felt this way before, about another girl, another life. Only this time, there was no vampire compulsion, no illusions. It was all agonizingly real. It was for her own good though, so he stayed away. Consoled himself with whisky on the rocks and an endless loop of Taylor Swift songs. She'd mock him if she knew.

Yet there she was now right in front of him. All that yearning and longing that has been compounding by the second since he saw her last comes rushing into him from wherever he hid it inside of himself.

He sidles up next to her wordlessly as if she were a magnet and he a nail. She smiles that same old smile of hers at him, the one with the corners of her mouth turned slightly downwards as if she couldn't fully commit herself to smiling fully.

"Hello stranger."

"How did you find me?"

She glances down at her glass as she recalls the last two years.

She finds herself weaving through the crowd and raises her hand up to wave down a taxi. Soon the telltale yellow cab comes to a stop in front of her.

"Where to, miss?"

She looks down at the crumpled paper in her lap. It's been folded over so many times the creases are about to tear.

"The airport," she replies.

The cabbie nods and pulls the car out into traffic. She sinks back into the leather seats and clutches the piece of paper to her chest.

Bonnie's neat handwriting graces the piece of paper that Blair holds close to her chest. A single word scrawled across the sheet: London.

When she left Stefan had warned her that it would be hard, that Damon won't be found if he doesn't want to be. Bonnie merely wished her good luck and clasped the magical bit of parchment into her hand.

And that was how it went. Every time Damon makes a move the word would change and she'd be on a new plane, chasing after words on a page.

She takes a sip of her martini and shrugs as the memories fade back into the recesses of her mind.

"Luck…" she answers while sending out a silent thank you to the young witch. "And maybe impeccable timing. I almost had you in Monaco you know, but something called me back to New York last minute."

"Nate?"

Blair recalls the day she had bid farewell to Nate Archibald two years ago. She wasn't sure then when she would be coming back. She wasn't sure then even if she was human or vampire or something else entirely. There were many things she was unsure about back then. But not now. Now she's sure. More sure than she think she'd ever be in her life.

"The other blonde."

"Ah," he nods knowingly. "A Serena Van der Woodsen crisis?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle," she answers confidently.

It was hard straddling two lives. Keeping a majority of her friends and family in the dark while trying to come to terms with what she was, but somehow she did it. And she plan to keep on doing it. She's greedy that way. She doesn't want to give up anybody. Stubborn, he'd say. But that's what brought her here. That's what brought them to this place, face to face once more.

"Are you sure you can stay away for too long? Your family must be worried."

"Oh, they think I'm on a cruise, they won't bother me much."

"Cruise huh?"

Her usual flawless skin looks even more porcelain than ever.

"Are you as tired of running, Damon? Because I'm not tired of chasing yet," she says cattily. "To be honest, I didn't think I'd find you here. You never really liked small towns."

"I guess I was feeling nostalgic," he answers breezily.

What he was was sloppy and foolish. He let himself think that he's lost her tail back when they were both in Madrid only to find himself retracing back to his old haunts. He was in New York just two days ago, but she didn't know.

"Stefan doesn't mind that you're back?" Blair asks as she motions towards the bartender for a refreshed drink.

"He doesn't know. We haven't been in contact for a while now. For obvious reasons of course."

She nods silently, tracing the wood grain on the bar top. "I'm tired. I just got off a redeye flight. Let's go back to your place."

"Are you always this forward with all the guys you meet in bars?"

"Only the handsome ones," she replies coyly.

He smiles in spite of himself at her backhanded compliment and it takes him back to time when banter with Blair Waldorf could be a daily thing. That time has passed, however, so he concentrates on ingraining her every word, her every gesture to his memory. It will be something to tide him over for the forthcoming years without her.

She gets up and starts heading towards the exit, pausing at the doorway to see if he follows. When he doesn't she struts back in on those impossibly high heels of hers that she always insists on wearing and takes his hand into hers, pulling him out of his seat forcefully. She's a lot stronger than he remembered.

She alternates between pouting with coercion and threats to get him to take her back to the hotel he's staying at. Finally he relents because he's out of practice and he doesn't have the acquired stamina to deal with a petulant Blair Waldorf anymore. She's quiet for a good full minute until he misses the exit into the city.

"I thought we agreed that you're taking me back to where you're staying."

"I am."

"Don't lie to me, Salvatore. We just missed the exit. The next hotel is another hour away and I doubt you'd lower yourself to some fleabag motel."

"I'm not staying at a hotel."

"Then where are you staying?"

Soon enough they pull up in front of a familiar big white house. Images of picnics on the floor instantly invades her memories.

"Here…? Why would you stay here?"

"I told you. I seem to have fallen nostalgic," he says with a shrug.

"What? You're like a squatter now?" she asks, wrinkling her nose at the notion as they walk through the front door.

He scoffs. "Nothing so proletarian. I bought it."

"You did what?"

"I bought it," he repeats.

"Why?" she asks incredulously as if it was the silliest thing he's ever done.

"Because I felt like it," he answers exasperatedly.

She glances around the place and notices that the living room is oddly barren even though the rest of the house is fully furnished.

"Why isn't there any furniture in the living room?" she asks, turning around to look at him face-to-face.

"I haven't found anything fitting for it yet…" he answers sheepishly.

Amusement and something softer plays on her face.

Despite all of her incessant questions, she quickly heads upstairs and curls up on his bed. Within seconds her eyes were closed. She wasn't joking about being tired he thinks as he watches how the lighting cast shadows on her face. He realizes that this is probably his one and only chance to run, but he hesitates for a moment and she must have sensed it because she sleepily opens one eye and commands him to stay put until she wakes with threats against his manhood and other sensitive body parts. Cleverly, he does what she says.

Several hours later she wakes and orders him to fetch her something to eat because now that she's awake, she's hungry. She could have asked for the moon and he would've gotten it for her. Which is ironic because the only thing she's truly asking of him, which is to stay and be with her, is the one thing he cannot do.

"I've been looking for you," she states as she watches him he cut her sandwich (his specialty) diagonally in half.

He still can't quite believe that she's right in front of him. Same brown curls, same long, dark, sweeping eyelashes and perfectly red lips perfect for kissing. Even if currently those lips are graced with a scowl aimed at him, he wants to kiss them. He misses everything about her. He loves everything about her. It makes it all the harder to push her away.

"I know," he replies simply, sliding the plate over to her across the kitchen counter.

"Then why are you making it so difficult?"

"Because I didn't want you to find me."

"Why not?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Maybe if you answered them I wouldn't keep asking them."

"Maybe you should take a hint and just stop asking."

"You're a real asshole, do you know that? You can't just literally give a girl your heart and fake your death like that."

She tries to sound nonchalant, but he can tell she's raging inside by the way her hands had turned into fists at her side.

"Sure I can. What I should've done was do it more convincingly so you wouldn't come looking for me. Was it Nate that slipped up? Stefan? Bonnie? Elena never really could keep a secret. She probably wrote it in her little diary."

She interrupts his rambling with three words.

"I love you."

Those three words that are so elegant in their simplicity and potential for utter devastation. Like a master, she delivers those world altering words as casually as if she was stating the weather and not breaking his heart all over again.

"You always did have a habit of tossing around the word 'love' carelessly."

"Don't belittle my feelings."

"Don't raise my hopes up," he retorts. It comes out angrier than he intended, but all of his pent up frustration is just about to come bursting out. "You're mortal, Blair." He laughs a humorless laugh. "No, what's worse is that you're an Immune. We have no chance whatsoever. A hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, when you're dust and a faint memory, what will I have? Front row seats to the apocalypse, that's what. I've already have nearly two centuries on you."

"Is that the only thing stopping you? An age difference?" she mocks.

"Is it the only thing?" he repeats sarcastically. "It's a pretty big fucking thing."

"There was a time when you convinced me that we could be together."

"I was naïve then. Still full of romantic notions and whatnot. I thought that if Stefan and Elena could do it, we could too. But we can't. We're not like them. They still have a chance, but not us."

"Why not us?" she demands.

"I watched you die once and I won't do it again," he says shaking his head. "I don't want to. I won't. Can't you see that?"

"Stop being melodramatic. If you actually wanted me to give up, then it wouldn't have been this easy to find you."

"I was being careless. Don't worry, it won't happen again."

"Why are you pushing me away? Why are you doing this?" she pleads.

"Why are you? Why are you making it difficult?"

"Because you lied to me. I thought you were dead! Do you know what that did to me? I thought you died because of me!"

"And you were about to die because of me," he throws back.

"So now you are punishing me for something I couldn't control."

"That's not it. I'm not trying to punish you."

If anything he's punishing himself.

"I'm trying to keep you safe," he stresses. "You should've let me go! You were supposed to let me go!" His words echo her dying ones. "You should've just kept on thinking I died and lived happily ever with Nate. You were supposed to be happy with Nate!"

"But I wasn't!"

"He loved you. He would've provided you with everything you would ever need, ever wanted-"

"That's just it! He's not what I wanted!"

"Well at least you were alive! Do you know how much you risk being with me? I'm a danger to you. Do you know what you are? I can't even heal you! I'm a vampire, Blair. And I have enemies-"

"That's not hard to imagine," she mutters under her breath.

He ignores her snide comment. "If they know about you they'll go after you. Do you understand? I can't save you again! I only have one heart and you already have it!"

"I never could've been happy. Not without you. And it was a real jerk move to make that decision for me. I can make my own decisions, Salvatore. Newsflash, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

"You'd die with me. Would you put me through watching that happen again?"

They were going in circles. She toys with the cutlery on the table besides her plate.

"You told me to let you go when you thought you were dying. I tried. I'm still trying. You should do the same. It will be better for the both of us."

"What if this whole… immortal versus mortal thing didn't matter? Hypothetically speaking… Would it…" she pauses in her speech. "…change anything then? Can we be together then?"

"Let's not waste time with hypotheticals."

"Is this your way of telling me you don't love me anymore? Because if that's it then just say so and don't make all of these excuses."

He swallows, but doesn't say anything.

"Why torture ourselves, Blair?"

"Is that what it is? I'm torturing you?" She tries smiling, but the joke has no effect on him.

"You know what I mean."

She picks up her knife and twirls it about, maneuvering it between her fingers.

"Just answer me honestly. Do you still love me?"

He swallows and looks her straight in the eye when he answers.

"I do."

He hates how weak he is that she forced him to admit it.

"But I can't save you, I can't protect you and I can't watch you die so I'm going to let you go."

"Is that your final answer?" She looks down and heaves a heavy sigh. "Like I said before, Damon, I don't need anyone to protect me."

She smiles as she pauses the twirling of the knife and calmly stabs herself in the stomach.

He was too stunned to stop her. All he could do was try and staunch the blood even as it blossomed out her midsection. Blood drips down from his fingertips and he's angry at her, furious with her, but most of all he's terrified.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?"

"Let go."

His fangs have extended in either bloodlust or anger. She thinks it's the latter from the expression on his face.

"And let you bleed to death? I don't think so. What are you trying to pull here?"

"Haven't you noticed?" she asks calmly. "It has stopped bleeding."

It's true. The rush of blood that was amplified by his vampire hearing has dulled.

"Really. Just let go. It's getting a little awkward."

"No."

She frowns and slowly peels off his hand. When did she get so strong? She lifts her shirt above the belly button and calmly wipes away the blood with a Burberry handkerchief to reveal pale, unmarked flesh. The wound is gone, not even a scar left in its wake.

"Is that a new Immune trick or something?" he asks breathlessly.

The corners of her mouth upturns briefly to smile and she shakes her head. After a long stunned silence, he finally finds his voice again.

"How?"

Blair smoothes out her shirt ignoring the rather large blood stain covering the front of it and recalls the first time she discovered that she could heal. She remembers watching the wound on her hand knit close. She still remembers how terrified she was when she tried stabbing herself for the first time. The pain still so very real and the first time she did it the healing process was so slow she thought she really was going to die only to have the wound close completely over an hour later. She had never tried stabbing herself again, until now. Truth be told she was really quite nervous, but she had wanted the dramatic effect.

"Ironically enough… it's thanks to Katherine," she answers.

"I don't understand."

"She tried to kill me," she says rolling her eyes.

He quirks his eyebrow at her as if she were the dense one.

"You know… I was bleeding to death on the floor say all sort of crazy stuff to you. Good-byes and what-nots."

He doesn't like recalling that memory.

"And you tried to get me to drink your blood."

"It shouldn't have worked, you're an Immune."

"It didn't. I was dying," she drawls. "And it was rather disgusting."

Suddenly her expression changed from impatience to tenderness. It was a change so fast it left his head spinning.

"But you couldn't give up."

She reaches up a hand to touch his cheek and he grits his teeth and tries to stand impossibly still as if he were a stone that couldn't feel, couldn't be affected by her. Perhaps if he does it well enough he could convince himself to not feel so heartbroken anymore.

"You gave me your heart." Her hand moves down from his cheek to lie on his chest. She doesn't feel a single beat there. The silence is hallowing.

He's still staring at her in amazement and so she continues on with her explanation.

"Your heart combined with the blood from Nate and the spell Bonnie casted. There were… side effects. Sort of. Guess somebody should've wrote a warning," she laughs nervously.

"What do you mean side effects?"

"I healed. But it was too close you know. I was supposed to die. And the human… the non-Immune blood and your heart… it did something. It did more than save me."

She suddenly turns rather nervous and the whole conversation is leaving him more confused than enlightened.

"I… I can't die. It seems as if I've become an immortal."

"Are you saying you… you turned?" he says in disbelief. The notion had not seemed possible.

She shakes her head slowly. "No… not completely. I can walk in the sun, although I've found that I burn much more easily that before. Makes going to the Hamptons during summer such a pain. I haven't grown any fangs nor do I need to drink blood, thank god. Mostly I just… heal. Very quickly. I-"

"Stop talking."

He starts pacing and she seats herself down on a barstool. She's used to people pacing about nervously around her. She tends to have that effect on people and she's learned to just wait it out.

"What did Bonnie say? I assume you talked with Bonnie?"

"Yes. She doesn't know what I am."

"Nothing in the grimoire."

"Well if there isn't much on Immunes how much information did you expect those grimiores to have on Immunes with vampire hearts that came back from the brink of death?" she replies cattily.

"How long will it last? This newfound immortality of yours?"

Once again Blair finds herself shaking her head. "I don't know. In the beginning the healing was slow. Humanly so. But I've been doing experiments-"

"Experiments?" he interrupts anxiously. "You've been experimenting on yourself?"

"Well how else am I supposed to figure out what I can or cannot do? It's not like there's a handbook."

"I don't like it."

"You just don't like not being in control," she points out. "Anyhow… like I was saying. The healing was slow in the beginning, but I've been experimenting and it's getting faster. The bigger the wound the longer it takes to heal, but even now… I've healed exponentially faster than yesterday. And the day before that. I'm getting stronger and stronger every day. I can feel it! Rushing through my veins. This… sort of supernatural strength radiating through me."

Her eyes are shining a bit brighter with a certain glow about her that he just can't ignore. He notices now the subtle difference between the girl standing in front of him and the girl he left behind in the hospital bed. She looks like she's gained some weight, where her arms use to be slender he can see more tone to them. A rosy blush graces her cheeks where before sharp shadows hallowed them out.

"What are you?" he asks wonderingly.

"I'm Blair," she answers confidently.

It took her awhile to come to the realization herself, but the answer was so simple and there all along. Human, witch, immune, vampire, all of those are just labels, secondary to who she really is.

"I am Blair Waldorf and I'm in love with you, Damon Salvatore, so will you stop pacing and worrying and just kiss me already?"

She's trained him well because he's obedient and within two quick steps his hands were around her waist lifting her up off her seat and his lips exactly where she wanted them to be.

He kisses her like it was the last time, like it was the first time, like all the times he ever imagine in his head.

"You changed your mind pretty quickly," she says smiling into his kisses. "I thought it would take a bit more convincing."

"You overestimate my restraint." Despite all of his protests he's been waiting for any sort of excuse, any sort of reason at all to screw it all and be with her.

He kisses down her jawline, leaving little love marks in his wake that disappears before he can even remove his lips, and moves to place one on her shoulder when she puts a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Before we go any further…There's something you have to know…"

He sees the slight apprehension in her eyes and all of the sudden his euphoria is bogged down with fear once again. There's a catch. There's always a catch. It would be too easy if they just have a Happily Ever After.

"I really don't like the wallpaper for this kitchen. We're going to have to do something about that."

She smiles coquettishly at him and he laughs, expelling the breath he was holding. He feels like a child again, not an easy feat for someone of his insurmountable years. He had forgotten how to be alive since she left and now that she's back all those feelings he has stowed away and thought of as human folly: fear, apprehension, joy, love. They're all coming back and he didn't realize that he has missed them all along.

xxx

She kisses him again and again, but it's never enough. She could have kissed him a thousand times and it wouldn't be enough. It's a good thing they have an eternity because she doesn't think a human life span, multiple human life spans or even the life span of the whole universe combined would be enough for her to tire of kissing Damon Salvatore.

When the world has become dust and everything she has ever known become a faint memory, she will stand there by his side watching the apocalypse. She can't even contemplate any other alternative. She could spend a whole eternity of contemplations and would still arrive at the same conclusion.

"I want to be with you. We can do it. We'll have forever."

"Is that a promise?" He whispers back, pressing his forehead to hers. "It won't be easy."

"Are you trying to change my mind? I said forever, Damon."

"Forever is a very long time. The life as you knew it… you won't be able to go back anymore."

"My life as I knew it already changed the moment I met you. I don't regret anything."

"But you might later-"

She stops his rambling with a tender kiss.

"I'm Blair Waldorf and you're Damon Salvatore," she whispers into his ear, her right hand cupping his cheek softly. "And I love you. I love now and I will love you tomorrow and I will love you until the end of time."

He realizes that the key to making forever last is all about timing and right at this moment, holding Blair Waldorf in his arms there can be no better timing than the present.

FIN.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So there it is. After all the drama, angst, bloodshed and tears I thought Blair and Damon deserved to finally have a happy ending. I actually had this written up since I first began (I have a habit of writing endings before my beginnings, because I like having an endgame to reach), but I kept rereading and rewriting parts only to change them back and what not. So it's been sitting on my computer and I couldn't bring myself to upload it online because I was never really quite satisfied and there's always something wrong and wanting. To be honest I've grown quite attached to this AU crossover and am a bit reluctant to let it go, but alas, all good things must end. This is by far the most fun I've had writing and I love all you readers who have commented, reviewed and supported me on this. Hugs for everybody! I hope you guys continue to check out my future fics! My obsession with Damon/Blair is yet to be over and hopefully I can get something new started soon! =)

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So after reading about a possible TVD/GG cross-over happening and the possibility of Damon/Blair going canon…I just had to write something! I originally wrote Bloody Roses as a oneshot, but was playing around with the idea of expanding it a little except… the muses for the rest of the story kinda died with the oneshot, so I might just stop here and make this into a companion to Bloody Roses. Or, I might take this into a new direction and turn it into a whole new series, but I have nothing planned so far. What do you guys think? Do you want more? Please review/comment! Let me know what you think!


End file.
